The crime of "aggravated mayhem"...

To someone who speaks British English, most of the time (law speak the rest) so it's interesting to see how words sometimes evolve in the North American tongue. Take this example:

CA Penal Code s 205: "A person is guilty of aggravated mayhem when he or she..."

Most of us would, I suspect, understand mayhem in the sense of chaos or confusion. Turns out that its historical meaning is that of violent injury (http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/115310) though it doesn't seem to have been used as such since the late 19th century at least.

I came across the term as a result of this article, pay close attention to the text of the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/14/rupert-murdoch-man-lost-penis

Strongly worded criticisim...

A commentator's perspective on some statutory drafting:

"A person engages in [resale price maintenance] when and where they do any one of a number of defined acts in s 37(3). Section 37 is horrendous. It is the type of statutory defating best read in a dark room with a wet towel around one's head. Having done that and as a service to readers, we have tried to summarise RPM below..."

Of course these are competition law specialists talking so their perspective on complicatedness and incomprehensibility can either be regarded as:
a) supremely valid; or
b) somewhat ironic

Competition Law for non-specialists, Andy Nicholls and Matt Sumpter