小蚁君这周给小伙伴们带来的词汇是“未成年人”，也就是大人眼里的孩子，开篇之前小编想给小伙伴们推荐一本书《孩子们的诗》，这本诗集里有着一个纯洁无瑕的世界，这里有爱，有温暖，有着人世间干净和美好。

灯

姜二嫚 | 七岁

灯把黑夜

烫了一个洞

我画的树太漂亮了

茗芝 | 八岁

我画的树

太漂亮了

接下来画的鸟

画的云

画的池塘和花朵

都配不上它

眼睛

陈科全 | 八岁

我的眼睛很大很大

装得下高山

装得下大海

装得下蓝天

装得下整个世界

我的眼睛很小很小

有时遇到心事

就连两行泪

也装不下

——节选《孩子们的诗》

Child / Minor / Infant / infancy

以上单词都有“未成年人”的含义

1

child

n．儿童

专门法律术语，曾意谓婚生儿童，以别于非婚生的。普通法一般指不满14岁的人，但此词在不同的法律中有不同的含义。例如英国1948年《儿童法》［Children Act］中的儿童指18岁以下的人，而在1944年《教育法》［Education Act］中，儿童指未超过义务教育年龄（现在英国为16岁）的人。

②胎儿；婴儿

③子女

包括婚生子女、非婚生子女、养子女、继子女等。

——元照英美法词典

1. An unemancipated person under the age of majority.

2. Hist. At common law, a person who has not reached the age of 14.

3. A boy or girl, a young person

4. A son or daughter "The word children' is normally used to denote issue of the first generation only. "

5. A baby or fetus. 

——Black's Law Dictionary

2

Minor

n．未成年人

指因未届成年年龄而欠缺法律行为能力或缔约能力的人。在普通法中，一般是不满21岁,

但英国和美国大多数州现已通过立法降为不满18岁。对某些行为还可规定较高或较低法定年龄，如购买烈性酒者的法定年龄较大，取得驾驶执照的年龄较低。

a．较小的；较少的；次要的

——元照英美法词典

1.   Someone who has not reached full legal age; a child or juvenile.

emancipated minor. (1817) A minor who is self-supporting and independent of parental control, usu. as a result of a court order.

minor in need of supervision.

2.   Roman law. Someone who is past puberty but less than 25 years old.

——Black's Law Dictionary

3

Infant

n．

①幼儿；新生儿；婴儿

②未成年人

指未满法定成年年龄之人。其在行为能力等方面受诸多限制，如合同能力、结婚能力。美国普通法成年年龄为21岁，现一般为18岁，在某些州法律中规定可因结婚而成年；英国成年年龄为21岁，但1969年《家庭法改革法》[Family Law Reform Act］将之降低到18岁，该法同时规定任何未达法定成年年龄的人都称“ minor”以替代“ infant”。所以在指未成年人时，用“minor”更为准确，不易产生混滑。

——元照英美法词典

1. A newborn baby.

2. MINOR (1).

"An infant in the eyes of the law is a person under the age of twenty-one years, and at that period (which is the same in the French and generally in the American law) he or she is said to attain majority; and for his torts and crimes an infant may be liable; but for his contracts, as a general rule, he is not liable, unless the contract is for necessaries. " John Indermaur , Principles of the Common Law 195. 

"infant -the one technical word that we have as a contrast for the person of full age-stands equally well for the new-born babe and the youth who is in his twenty-first year. “

The common-law rule provided that a person was an infant until he reached the age of twenty-one. The rule continues at the present time, though by statute in some jurisdictions the age may be lower. "

——Black's Law Dictionary

4

Infancy

n．未成年

未达法定成年年龄［ legal majority］的人为未成年人。普通法认为成年年龄为满21岁，现在通常为满18岁。普通法关于刑事责任年龄的划分是：7岁以下为不具有刑事责任能力；7岁至14岁为“推定缺乏刑事责任能力”，即如果在缺乏证据证明有责任能力的情况下就被推定为没有责任能力：14岁以上为完全刑事责任能力。如今，美国许多州通过制定法对刑事责任能力年龄作了一些变动，而且许多司法管辖区采用少年法庭法律规定的年龄界限一一必须或可以在少年法庭接受审判的被告必须不满一定的年龄通常为18岁。由于未成年人生理、心理不成熟，其认识和意志结构不健全因而成为合法辩护理由之一。

②幼年；婴儿期

——元照英美法词典

1.   MINORITY 

“Every person is, at the common law, considered an infant, or minor, until he has reached the age of twenty-one years, which age is computed to be completed on the first instants of the day preceding the twenty-first anniversary of his birth. The period of infancy is wholly a matter of positive law, and the rights and liabilities of infants and their legal relations to others are wholly under the control of government. "

2. Early childhood

natural infancy. (17c) At common law, the period ending at age seven, during which a child was presumed to be without criminal capacity.

3. The beginning stages of anything.

——Black's Law Dictionary

（实习编辑助理：赵婉婷）

（本文转自公众号“律蚁语言服务社”，已获授权）