Mayhem (crime).html



Criminal law

Part of the common law series

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Actus reus · Causation · Concurrence Mens rea · Intention · Recklessness Criminal negligence Ignorantia juris non excusat Strict / Corporate / Vicarious liability

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Inchoate offenses

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v • d • e

Mayhem, under the common law of crimes, consisted of the intentional and wanton removal of a body part that would handicap a person's ability to defend himself in combat. Under the strict common law definition, this required damage to an eye or a limb, while cutting off an ear or a nose was deemed not sufficiently disabling. Later the meaning of the crime expanded to encompass any mutilation, disfigurement, or crippling act done using any instrument. The noun "mayhem", and the verb "maim", came from Old French mahaigne.¹

Fetter v. Beale

The most significant revolution in common-law mayhem doctrine came in 1697, when the King's Bench decided Fetter v. Beale, 91 Eng. Rep. 1122. There, the plaintiff recovered in a battery action against a defendant. Shortly thereafter, "part of his skull by reason of the said battery came out of his head," and the plaintiff brought a subsequent action under mayhem. Though Fetter is also known as an early example of res judicata, it is most significant for expanding the ambit of mayhem to include "loss of the skull."

The modern doctrine

In modern times, the offense of mayhem has been superseded in many jurisdictions by statutorily defined offenses such as aggravated battery.

Newer, more usual, meaning

The term "mayhem" is now often used to mean havoc and disorder, often in a jocular sense. This change arose from newspaper readers misunderstanding the journalese phrase "rioting and mayhem".

Source

• John C. Klotter and Terry D. Edwards, Criminal Law, fifth edition (Anderson Publishing: Cincinnati, Ohio, 1998). ISBN 0-87084-527-6.
• Barbara Allen Babcok, Toni M. Massaro, and Norman W. Spaulding, Civil Procedure: Cases and Problems (Aspen Publishers: New York, NY 2006). ISBN 0-7355-5620-2.

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