bankruptcy has special advantages for some companies, like
disaffirmance(30) The age of the governing case law that discusses and applies valid-when-made, however, does not mean that the principle is irrelevant or antiquated, inasmuch as there appears to be no case that expressly disaffirms the principle (and, as we discuss below, we do not believe that Madden falls within the
disaffirmance category).
Any such consent shall not be subject to a later
disaffirmance by reason of his minority." Massachusetts MASS.
1987) (discussing the requirements for
disaffirmance by mentally incompetent parties); see also First State Bank of Sinai v.
("
Disaffirmance is any act by which the minor indicates that he
The most common formulation of misrepresentation-of-age statutes prevents
disaffirmance where the other party believed the minor capable of contracting "on account of the minor's own misrepresentations as to his majority." (165) It is a canon of statutory interpretation that "[w]ords that are not terms of art and that are not statutorily defined are customarily given their ordinary meanings, often derived from the dictionary.
Although in many instances such
disaffirmance may be a hardship upon those who deal with an infant, the fight to avoid his contracts is conferred by law upon a minor "for his protection against his own improvidence and the designs of others." It is the policy of the law to protect a minor against himself and his indiscretions and immaturity as well as against the machinations of other people and to discourage adults from contracting with an infant.
Neither the payments made by the purchaser nor his unsuccessful attempts to sell the land or renegotiate with the vendor signalled an unequivocal decision against
disaffirmance of the contractual relationship.
481, 524 (1995) ("The right of
disaffirmance as enunciated in
The preferred approach is to disallow
disaffirmance where the adult contracting party relied on the agreement to her detriment.
Releases signed by minors are uniformly considered "voidable and subject to
disaffirmance." (40) Dilallo v.
(44) Corrective actions could conceivably take many forms, including the reporting of the violation to others in the corporation, resignation, or
disaffirmance of work product.
