MAYHEM. In Criminal Law. The act of unlawfully and violently depriving another of the use of such of his members as may render him less able, in fighting, either to defend himself or annoy his adversary. 8 C. & P. 167, See Com. v. Newell, 7 Mass. 247.
"Maiheming is when one member of the common weale shall take from another member of the, same, a katu•all member of his bodie, or the use and bene fit thereof, and thereby disable him to serve the commonweale by his weapons in the time of warre, or by his labour in the time of peace, and also diminisheth the strength of his bodie, and weaken him thereby to get his owns living, and by that means the commonweale is in a sort deprived of the use of one of her members." Fulton, De Pace Regis, 1609, fol. 15, § 58.
One may not innocently maim himself, and where he procures another to maim him, both are guilty ; Co. Litt. 127 a; People v. Clough, 17 Wend. (N. Y.) 351, 31 Am. Dec. 303. The cutting or disabling or weakening a man's hand or finger, or striking out his eye or foretooth, or depriving him of those parts the loss of which abates his courage, are held to be mayhems ; Chick v. State, 7 Humphr. (Tenn.) 161; Cl. Cr. L. 183. But cutting off the ear or nose, or the like, are not held to be mayhems at common law ; 4 Bla. Com. 205 ; but see State v. Abram, 10 Ala. 928. The injury must be permanent ; State v. Briley, 8 Port. (Ala.) 472; State v.
Harrison, 30 La. Anu. 1329 ; and if inflicted on an assailant in self-defence, it is not may hem ; Hayden Y. State, 4 Blackf. (Ind.) 546.
These and other severe personal injuries are punished by the Coventry Act, which is common law and also has been re-enacted in most of the states; 1 Hawk. P. C., Curw. ed. 107, § 1; Ryan, Med. Jur., Phil. ed. 191; and by act of congress. See Act of April 30, 1790, s. 13 ; Act of March 3, 1825, s. 22 ; Rev. Stat. § 1342, art. 58 (when committed by a soldier in time of war, etc.) ; State v. Abram, 10 Ala. 928 ; Adams v. Barrett, 5 Ga. 404 ; Com. v. Newell, 7 Mass. 245; State v. Girkin, 23 N. C. 121; Scott v. Com., 6 S. & R. (Pa.) 224; Com. v. Lester, 2 Va. Cas. 198; People v. Wright, 93 Cal. 564, 29 Pac. 240. Mayhem was not an offence at com mon law in Massachusetts, but only an ag gravated trespass ; Com. v. Newell, 7 Mass. 248; but at the early common law it was a felony punishable by the loss of member for member, a punishment disused later ; see id.; 1 McCl. Cr. L. § 432. Maim as used in the statutes is not equivalent to mayhem but to mutilate ; McCl. Cr. L. § 432.
See PHYSICAL EXAMINATION. As to loss of a member in accident insurance, see Loss.