Age of Majority Act 1973 (1973 - )

This amendment had a wide ranging impact on multiple pieces of legislation, including:

• Adoption of Children Act 1968 (Act no.33/1968), the definition of a child in this act was originally someone under 21, the Age of Majority Act 1973 changed this to 18.
• Child Welfare Act 1960 (Act no.48/1960), the full title of this act was changed from 'An act to consolidate and amend certain enactments relating to children and other persons who have not attained the age of 21 years' to relate to people under 18 years not 21. The definition of legal guardian was changed to only include guardians of people under the age of 18. It originally related to people under the age of 21. The age at which wards of the state could receive any money held on their behalf was lowered from 21 to 18.
• Guardianship and Custody of Infants Act 1934 lowered the age at which a father could appoint a person to be the guardian of his child from 21 to 18.