Mayhem, << MAY hehm, >> in law, is the offense of making a person less capable of self-defense by maiming the body or by destroying or injuring one of its members. Such injuries call for legal distinctions, because not all injuries which result from assault are mayhem. Biting off a person’s ear or nose was not mayhem under the old common law. But cutting off a finger or destroying an eye came under that law, because such an injury would make a person less capable of self-defense.
Modern statutes now regard as mayhem any crime of violence which causes a permanent bodily injury. The person who inflicts the injury is subject to a civil suit as well as to criminal prosecution. The word is an old form of the word maim.
