From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   On 2025/9/28 8:18:51, Charles Ellson wrote:   
   > On Sun, 28 Sep 2025 07:41:00 +0100, "J. P. Gilliver"   
   >  wrote:   
      
   []   
      
      
   >> I was puzzled by charlesellson's use of the words "no more than",   
   >> implying that there was something for which a _maximum_ age existed; I   
   >> was (and still am) unaware of any maxima, at least relating to marriage.   
   >>   
   > 21 yeara minus a day was the maximum age at which you were liable to   
   > have your marital plans spoiled by an objecting parent or guardian.   
   > Before you got to the stage of registering the marriage there were   
   > preceding documented hurdles to be overcome such as banns, marriade   
   > bonds and licences (and also not being dragged home by Dad and/or his   
   > servants).   
      
   OK, 21 years less a day _is_ a maximum - but really, that's another way   
   of saying 21 is a minimum! (Though I imagine the dragging home -   
   especially for females - occurred at well over that age!)   
      
   >   
   >> (Very few altogether, even now: sometimes maxima for working age,   
   >> especially in the military, and I think there's a maximum age for   
   >> _compulsory_ jury service - and others where extra action has to be   
   >> _taken_ to continue, such as in UK driving licences have to be _renewed_   
   >> every 3 years from 70.)   
   >>   
   > Your age can also affect what vehicles you are allowed to drive. You   
   > have to be no more than 70 to drive heavier vehicles (mainly C1 for   
   > this example) without proof of fitness if you were previously entitled   
   > to drive them without proof of fitness. Otherwise the main limits will   
   > be the minima.   
   >   
   Ah, I didn't know about that one, but it sounds sensible. (At least,   
   _some_ check sounds sensible, and age is probably a _practical_ one to use.)   
      
   >>>>   
   >>>>>> dealt with a person who had reached their twenty-first birhday which   
   >>>>>> qualified them to marry without general hindrance from that day   
   >>>>>> onward. The form would also have allowed the age of a minor to be   
   >>>>>> entered; in some cases (not limited to marriage) that could expand to   
   >>>>>> e.g. "of x years or and less than y years"   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>> "of x years and less than y years"   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>> or similar.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> (I have indeed seen a minor mentioned; that form had hand-annotated that   
   >>>> the father was also present, and approved.) But the words "Years and   
   >>>> upwards" are preprinted on the form, with no space for "and less than".   
   >>>>   
   >>> The pre-GRO paperwork did not have every possible description featured   
   >>> in the printing and was not all exactly the same unlike the legislated   
   >>> formats for current registrations.   
   >> Yes, but the "and upwards" form (which sounds odd in today's English -   
   >> I'd expect "or above" or "or more" after, or "at least" before) form   
   >> seems to have been common on printed forms.   
      
      
      
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny   
   individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.   
   - Ayn Rand, quoted by Deb Shinder 2012-3-30   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)