Under the strict common law definition, initially this required damage to an eye or a limb, while cutting off an ear or the nose was not deemed to be sufficiently disabling.
[3] The most significant change in common-law mayhem doctrine came in 1697, when the King's Bench decided Fetter v. Beale, 91 Eng.
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.
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.
[6] 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.