baby actn.
/ˈbeɪbɪ akt/, U.S. /ˈbeɪbi ˌæk(t)/ 1. U.S. colloquial. Any act or statute protecting the rights of minors. Frequently in to plead the baby act at Phrases 1. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > types of laws > [noun] > personal or family
family law1728
Marriage Act1753
baby act1837
1837 New Yorker 9 Dec. 593/2 We do not defend the conduct of any man who pleads usury in bar of an honest man, neither would we if he should plead the baby act, or minority.
1846 U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Oct. 320/2 Overcome by their entreaties [the troops] took advantage of what has been facetiously termed the ‘baby act’, and obtained their dismission.
1869 Overland Monthly July 76/2 They do not generally belong to the class of those who require a baby act for their protection.
1888 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 14 Feb. 7/3 The American Pacific lines are not likely to be looked upon as innocent children and protected by a ‘Baby act’.
1915 Southwestwern Rep. 171 729/1 Appellant in this case sought to take advantage of the ‘baby act’, and claimed, because he was only 18 or 19 years old, he had to live with his parents.
2. An act performed by a baby or young child; an act performed in an infantile manner; a babyish act.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > childish folly, childishness > [noun] > instance of
childhoodc1330
childhead1340
puerilityc1475
boytry?1542
childishness1587
babism1610
youthfullity1763
babyism1806
baby act1865
1865 Sunshine Mar. 47/1 May not this baby act, so sweet, A little lesson to us prove?
1877 ‘Isha’ Marriage & Married Life II. vii. 135 Even her baby act angered the impatient man; he put her quickly from him,..this being of course resented by a cry.
1904 W. H. Smith Promoters xv. 229 That's business honor, and anything else is the baby act.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby iii. 57 A pair of stage twins, who turned out to be the girls in yellow, did a baby act in costume.
1933 Union Teacher May 2/2 They resorted to, what in all honesty can only be called the ‘baby act’—they whined; they complained.
2003 Jrnl. Res. in Childhood Educ. 17 159 (table) Imitates baby acts.
Phrases
P1. U.S. to plead the baby act: (Law) to assert a person's status as a minor, often in referring to a contract signed while under-age; (in extended use) to plead that one is not responsible for something on the grounds of youth or inexperience (usually depreciative). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > pleading > plead [verb (intransitive)] > enter specific plea
to plead specially1768
to plead the baby act1837
to read the baby act1899
1837 [see sense 1].
1844 Mississippi Free Trader & Natchez Gaz. 18 Oct. Judge Guion, known by reputation to all present to be a full grown man, had pleaded the ‘baby act’.
1862 Merchants' Mag. Dec. 581 We have heard of minors making contracts and subsequently pleading the baby act.
1888 Congress. Rec. Aug. App. 440/1 [Mr. S. S. Cox] admits the authorship..but pleads the baby act, and says he was a boy when he wrote it.
1901 Forum Jan. 592 One minute reading the riot act of manly independence, and the next pleading the baby-act of thoughtless irresponsibility.
1925 N.Y. Univ. Law Rev. 2 128 The Court of Chancery in England..permitted it [sc. the child] to plead the baby act whenever it did anything adverse to its interests.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > pleading > plead [verb (intransitive)] > enter specific plea
to plead specially1768
to plead the baby act1837
to read the baby act1899
1899 ‘M. Twain’ in Harper's Mag. Sept. 532/1 He demanded the expulsion of the Jews. When politicians come out without a blush and read the baby act in this frank way, unrebuked, it is a very good indication that they have a market back of them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1837