From: charlesellson@btinternet.com   
      
   On Sun, 28 Sep 2025 07:06:42 +0200, Steve Hayes   
    wrote:   
      
   >On Sat, 27 Sep 2025 15:26:39 +0100, Peter Johnson   
   > wrote:   
   >   
   >>>The "and upwards" is for those who are unsure. If it weren't printed   
   >>>there, and there was simply a blank to be filled in with the actual   
   >>>age, "don't know" or "unknown" or "not sure" would not satisfy the   
   >>>legal requirements. If the actual age is known, then it adds nothing.   
   >>   
   >>Yes. A lot of people would never have seen their birth certificate, or   
   >>birth register entry, and would have been dependent on what they were   
   >>told by parents or guardians. And they might not have always been   
   >>right.   
   >   
   >Yu just have to look at census records for that. Children's ages given   
   >at censuses often do not tally with their date of birth, if known, nor   
   >with their age at the next or previous census.   
   >   
   >The clerk filling in (up, out) the form (whether in holy orders or   
   >not) might simply go by appearance, and would be saying that the   
   >person was over 21. But if they looked 50, it would be silly to say   
   >they were "21 and upwards" so they would write "50 and upwards".   
   >   
   If you are legally required to record the fact that somebody is over x   
   years then that is what you record (in previous years with the simple   
   word "full" for their age) to avoid later legal confusion or argument   
   over what was being recorded or the purpose for which it was being   
   recorded.   
      
   I have encountered the occasional "over 21" but never "over " for an adult.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)