Blackstone says that under common law: "an infant* can neither aliene his lands, nor do any legal act, nor make a deed, nor indeed any manner of contract. that is of any force or effect." So, although minors can inherit & from a certain age bequeath property, buying and selling was out because the contract had no 'force' behind it. As Liz said, your person could have inherited the land & could be any age, but if the person you are interested in is buying or selling, then that is another matter. [Blackstone was writing mid-1700s but his purpose was to present English common law.] *Under common law majority was at age 21, anyone under that age was an 'infant' thus the above usage of that term. This site has a nice page addressing these issues: http://www.genfiles.com/legal/legalage.htm Liane