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Why?

In English common law, traditionally 7 is the age of reason, 14 the age of an adult, and 21 the age of majority. We'd have 14 year olds off to sea, etc.

I suspect (but haven't checked) this comes from some biblical rules.

Remember that people can generally breed by 14 (even now, some girls go through pubity around 10 or 11), though a lot of western cultures now outlaw it.



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