Opinion ID: 2141839
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: History of mayhem

Text: ¶ 16 The history of mayhem and Wisconsin's mayhem statute is quite extensive. The English common-law crime of mayhem originated from the principle that he that maimed any man whereby he lost any part of his body was sentenced to lose the like part. William Blackstone, 4 Commentaries  (Lewis ed. 1897). However, the crime was soon punished by fine and imprisonment because punishment could not be repeated if it remained an eye for an eye. Id. Blackstone defines mayhem as the violently depriving another of the use of such of his members as may render him the less able, in fighting, either to defend himself or to annoy his adversary. Id. at . Thus, at common law it was not mayhem if one merely disfigured another or even disabled parts of the body not critical to fighting, such as the nose or ear. Id. It appears that the first statutory expression of mayhem was in 1403, which punished a person for cutting out the tongue or putting out the eye of a person who could testify against him. Id. at . A subsequent statute punished persons for maliciously and unlawfully cutting off the ear of another. Id. at -07. ¶ 17 Following this statute was the Coventry Act, which was by far the most severe and effectual mayhem statute. Id. This early English statute, which laid the foundation for even the modern day mayhem statute, was established in 1670. Id. It arose out of an incident whereby Sir John Coventry's nose was slit because of obnoxious words uttered by him in Parliament. Rollin M. Perkins & Ronald N. Boyce, Criminal Law 239 (3d ed. 1982). At common law, such conduct did not constitute mayhem, emphasizing the weakness of the law of mayhem. Id. As stated in Blackstone, the Coventry Act provided: By this statute it is enacted that if any person shall of malice aforethought and by lying in wait unlawfully cut out or disable the tongue, put out an eye, slit the nose, cut off a nose or lip, or cut off or disable any limb or member, of any other person, with intent to maim or disfigure him, such person, his counsellors, aiders, and abettors, shall be guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. Blackstone, supra, at  (emphasis included in Blackstone). This statute did not displace the English common law of mayhem [] but provided an increased penalty for intentional maiming and for the first time extended the crime to include [intentional] disfigurement []. Perkins & Boyce, supra, at 240 (footnotes and emphasis omitted). The Coventry Act represented an expansion of common-law mayhem, which punished only for disabling members of the body important for fighting. The Coventry Act punished persons for disabling other members of the body not critical to fighting, and it further prohibited the intentional disfiguring of another person. ¶ 18 American mayhem statutes in the nineteenth century were nearly identical to the Coventry Act. [5] Even prior to statehood, the statutes of Wisconsin contained the crime of maiming or disfiguring in almost identical form to the Coventry Act. [6] Until 1955, the mayhem statute remained nearly unchanged except for an increase in the maximum penalty to 15 years and minor word changes, which are insignificant to our question today. [7] ¶ 19 The legislature revised the mayhem statute in 1955 when it revised the entire Wisconsin criminal code. [8] The Legislative CouncilCriminal Code Advisory Committeenearly removed mayhem from Wisconsin's criminal code. [9] 1953 A.B. 100, at 70 (§ 340.21 comment). The council initially consolidated the 1953 statutes of mayhem and assault, great bodily harm into aggravated battery, which it defined as [w]hoever intentionally causes great bodily harm to another may be imprisoned not more than 15 years. Id., at 69-70. ¶ 20 The proposed revisions of the criminal code included comments stating that mayhem would now fall under aggravated battery and describing this change as a substantial restatement of the old law. [10] Id. at 69. However, the legislature ultimately retained mayhem largely to differentiate those who caused great bodily harm, which resulted in a disabled or disfigured victim, from those who possessed the specific intent to disable or disfigure the latter punishing much more severely. [11] ¶ 21 The 1955 revised version read: Whoever, with intent to disable or disfigure another, cuts or mutilates the tongue, eye, ear, nose, lip, limb or other bodily member of another, may be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than 15 years or both. Wis. Stat. § 940.21 (effective July 1, 1955) (emphasis added). ¶ 22 The phrase other bodily member likely came from Wisconsin's great bodily harm statute. Great bodily harm was defined as: [B]odily injury which creates a high probability of death, or which causes serious disfigurement, or which causes permanent or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. 1953 A.B. 100, at 14 (setting forth the proposed Wis. Stat. § 339.22(12)). ¶ 23 Prior to the 1955 criminal code revision, no mayhem statute in Wisconsin's history used the term other bodily member. As previously stated, the original plan of the 1955 criminal code revision was to incorporate mayhem into aggravated battery. Aggravated battery required great bodily harm, which included bodily member as part of its definition. Great bodily harm appeared in the criminal code for the first time in 1955. [12] See Chapter 623, Laws of 1953 (effective July 1, 1955 and defined in section 339.22(12)). The definition of great bodily harm was taken from the Restatement of Torts § 63 cmt. b, which specifically mentions mayhem. [13] While the phrase other bodily member likely came from the great bodily harm statute, this does not explain or provide insight as to what other bodily member means for purposes of our analysis. ¶ 24 The only recent changes to the mayhem statute occurred in 1977 when the legislature classified mayhem as a Class B felony and 2001 when it was reclassified as a Class C felony, thus revising only the penalty portion of the statute. [14] The current version of Wisconsin's mayhem statute reads: Whoever, with intent to disable or disfigure another, cuts or mutilates the tongue, eye, ear, nose, lip, limb or other bodily member of another is guilty of a Class C felony. Wis. Stat. § 940.21 (emphasis added). [15]