Source: EconLog
by Kevin Corcoran
“Recently, co-blogger David Henderson offered some ponderings about the limits of self-ownership. He argued that the government shouldn’t put limits on the self-ownership of adults of sound mind, but such limits could appropriately be placed on children and adults of unsound mind. That raised the issue of how we set about determining when a child stops being a child and counts as an adult, or at what level an adult is of unsound mind. Of course, through policy we can set particular hard and well-defined limits. If you’re over 18 years of age, you’re an adult. If you’re younger, you’re a child. If your IQ is above, say, 85, you’re of sound mind, but if it’s below that, then you’re not. This approach is clean, neat, simple, and as David points out, comes with two big difficulties.” (06/11/25)
https://www.econlib.org/prime-mammals-and-the-limit-of-limits/