Mayhem is a common law criminal offense consisting of the intentional maiming of another person.

Under the law of England and Wales and other common law jurisdictions, it originally consisted of the intentional and wanton removal of a body part that would handicap a person’s ability to defend themselves in combat. Under the strict common law definition, initially this required damage to an eye or a limb, while cutting off an ear or a nose was not deemed to be sufficiently disabling. In the many years since, the meaning of the crime expanded to encompass any type of mutilation, disfigurement, or crippling act done using any instrument.

In the United States, people have been charged with and convicted of mayhem for their involvement in castration/genital mutilation cases (which do not result in death).

England

History of definitions

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2011)

In England and Wales, it has fallen into disuse. In 1992 the Law Commission recommended that it be abolished, and in 1998 the Home Office proposed to abolish it, in the course of codifying the law relating to offences against the person.

• The Law Commission, Consultation Paper No.122, Offences Against the Person and General Principles, Appendix A, Draft Criminal Law Bill, clause 31(1)(a)(iii) at page 90 of the report 
• The Home Office. 1998. Violence: Reforming the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. “Violence: Reforming the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 | Home Office”. Archived from the original on 2009-02-27. Retrieved 2008-12-15. Draft Offences Against the Person Bill, clause 23

Fetter v. Beale

The most significant change 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”.

Modern doctrine

In modern times, the offense of mayhem has been superseded in many jurisdictions by statutory offenses such as:

• aggravated battery
• grievous bodily harm

United States

Modern statutes in the U.S. define mayhem as disabling or disfiguring, such as rendering useless a member of another person’s arms or legs. The injury must be permanent, not just a temporary loss. Some courts will hold even a minor battery as mayhem if the injury is not minor. Mayhem in the U.S. is a felony in all states and jurisdictions, including federal. In the states of California, Vermont and Oklahoma, mayhem is punishable by up to life imprisonment. In other states where laws defining mayhem (or maiming) are in place, the maximum punishment for mayhem is generally 10 to 20 years, and mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment may also apply, depending on the laws of the state. If mayhem was committed in an aggravated fashion, such as in the case of where it resulted in permanent disability or disfigurement, the punishment is generally much more severe, and may even include life imprisonment. For example, simple mayhem in California is punishable by two to eight years in prison, whereas aggravated mayhem is punishable by up to life imprisonment.

• E.g. Cal. Pen. Code Sec. 203
• Dix, George E. (2010). Gilbert Law Summaries on Criminal Law. Thomson/West. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-0-314-19430-5.

Castration cases

Bertha Boronda was an American woman who sliced off her husband’s penis in 1907. She was convicted of the crime of mayhem. 

• Bertha Boronda notes here

Catherine Kieu, also known as Catherine Kieu Becker, is an American woman who was convicted of torture and aggravated mayhem in 2013 for mutilating her husband’s genitalia. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after seven years. Attorneys for Catherine Kieu unsuccessfully argued on appeal that she should not have been convicted of torture because there was “insufficient evidence she intended to cause cruel or extreme pain and suffering” on her husband, whose penis she sliced off before tossing it into the garbage disposal, turning the appliance on and telling cops he “deserved” it. As of August 2021, she has not been granted parole and is imprisoned at the Central California Women’s Facility.

• “Catherine Kieu Sentenced To Life In Prison For Amputating Husband’s Penis”. Huffingtonpost.com. June 28, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
• “California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Inmate Locator”. Retrieved January 18, 2021.
• Matt Coker Catherine Keiu Becker Loses Appeal Arguing Slicing Of Husband’s Penis Was Not Torture July 29, 2014

Etymology

mayhem (n.)

Late 15c., “the violent doing of a bodily hurt to another person,” from Anglo-French maihem (13c.), from Old French mahaigne “injury, wrong, a hurt, harm, damage;” related to mahaignier “to injure, wound, mutilate, cripple” (see maim). Originally, in law, the crime of maiming a person “to make him less able to defend himself or annoy his adversary” [OED]. By 19c. it was being used generally of any sort of violent disorder or needless or willful damage or violence.

• Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of mayhem.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/mayhem. Accessed 12 February, 2023.

• maim (v.)
  • c. 1300, maimen, “disable by wounding or mutilation, injure seriously, damage, destroy, castrate,” from Old French mahaignier “to injure, wound, muitilate, cripple, disarm,” a word of uncertain origin, possibly from Vulgar Latin *mahanare (source also of Provençal mayanhar, Italian magagnare), of unknown origin; or possibly from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *mait- (source of Old Norse meiða “to hurt,” related to mad (adj.)), or from PIE root *mai- (1) “to cut.” In old law, “to deprive of the use of a limb, so as to render one less able to defend or attack in fighting.” Related: Maimed; maiming. It also is used as a noun, “injury causing loss of a limb, mutilation” (late 14c.), in which it is a doublet of mayhem
• mad (adj.)
  • late 13c., “disordered in intellect, demented, crazy, insane,” from Old English gemædde “out of one’s mind” (usually implying also violent excitement), also “foolish, extremely stupid,” earlier gemæded “rendered insane,” past participle of a lost verb *gemædan “to make insane or foolish,” from Proto-Germanic *gamaidjan, demonstrative form of *gamaidaz “changed (for the worse), abnormal” (source also of Old Saxon gimed “foolish,” Old High German gimeit “foolish, vain, boastful,” Gothic gamaiþs “crippled, wounded,” Old Norse meiða “to hurt, maim”). This apparently is from the Germanic intensive prefix *ga- + PIE *moito-, past participle of root *mei- (1) “to change, go, move” (source also of Latin mutare “to change,” migrare “to change one’s place of residence”). In Middle English usurped the place of the more usual Old English word, wod (see wood (adj.)).

Both the noun mayhem and the verb maim come from Old French via Anglo-Norman. The word is first attested in various Romance languages in the 13th century, but its ultimate origin is unclear.

• Oxford English Dictionary, Third edition, June 2000; online version June 2011

Etymology of other meaning

The term “wreaker of mayhem” was, accurately, originally used for a person going on a rampage (onslaught) in the glorified setting of a just war. After such uses, the term abounded for centuries in journalese, such as reporting “rioting and mayhem”, which readers misunderstood as meaning “havoc, chaos or pandemonium”, and started the usual modern use of the word “mayhem”.^{[citation needed]}

To wreak havoc/mayhem/destruction (on something) is to cause a lot of damage or problems.

• https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/wreak-havoc-mayhem-destruction-on-something

• wreak (v.)
  • Old English wrecan “avenge,” originally “to drive, drive out, punish” (class V strong verb; past tense wræc, past participle wrecen), from Proto-Germanic *wrekanan (source also of Old Saxon wrekan, Old Norse reka, Old Frisian wreka, Middle Dutch wreken “to drive, push, compel, pursue, throw,” Old High German rehhan, German rächen “to avenge,” Gothic wrikan “to persecute”), from PIE root *wreg- “to push, shove, drive, track down” (see urge (v.)). Meaning “inflict or take vengeance,” with on, is recorded from late 15c.; that of “inflict or cause (damage or destruction)” is attested from 1817. Compare wrack (v.). Related: Wreaked; wreaking.
  • Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of wreak.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/wreak. Accessed 12 February, 2023.

• havoc (n.)
  • Early 15c., from the expression cry havoc “give the signal to pillage” (Anglo-French crier havok, late 14c.). Havok, the signal to soldiers to seize plunder, is from Old French havot “pillaging, looting” (in crier havot), which is related to haver “to seize, grasp,” hef “hook,” probably from a Germanic source (see hawk (n.)), or from Latin habere “to have, possess.” General sense of “devastation” first recorded late 15c.
  • Harper, Douglas. “Etymology of havoc.” Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/havoc. Accessed 12 February, 2023.

Further reading

• Edward Coke, Institutes of the Laws of England, Part 3, Chapter 53 (p. 118) (1797 ed.) [2] (via the Internet Archive).
• Edward Hyde East, Treatise of Pleas of the Crown, Volume 1, Chapter 7 (pp. 392–403) (1806 ed.) [3] (via Google Books).
• William Hawkins, Treatise of Pleas of the Crown, Book 1, Part 1, Chapter 15, Sections 1–12 (pp. 107–109) (1824 ed.) [4] (from Google Books).
• John C. Klotter and Terry D. Edwards, Criminal Law, Fifth Edition (Anderson Publishing: Cincinnati, 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, 2006). ISBN 0-7355-5620-2.

Types of crime

Categories: 

• Offences against the person
• Violent crime
• Amputations