Holder Tears Signature From Note
Mason McCarthy holds a promissory note issued by Michael Miller. He cuts the maker's signature from the note and returns the altered instrument to Miller. The obligation to pay is discharged by the intentional act.
Also known as: mutilations · mutilate · mutilates · mutilated · mutilating · maiming
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
The act of rendering a document legally ineffective by subtracting or altering an essential part through cutting, tearing, burning, or erasing.
The act of rendering a document legally ineffective by subtracting or altering an essential part through cutting, tearing, burning, or erasing.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The act of cutting off or permanently damaging a body part, especially an essential one.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The act of cutting off or permanently damaging a body part, especially an essential one.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Mason McCarthy holds a promissory note issued by Michael Miller. He cuts the maker's signature from the note and returns the altered instrument to Miller. The obligation to pay is discharged by the intentional act.
Jordan organizes a tuition protest at a public university. Students burn their ID cards on campus to convey opposition to fee increases. The university enforces its rule against such destruction and disciplines the participants.
Aidan tears up his security clearance badge during a protest on federal property. The agency enforces a rule against such destruction and brings a civil enforcement action against him.
Yes. Under UCC § 3-604(a), a person entitled to enforce an instrument may discharge the obligation by an intentional voluntary act that includes mutilation of the instrument.
Supporting sources
Yes. The rule regulates expressive conduct under the O'Brien test when it advances an important interest in campus security and identification that is unrelated to suppressing expression and restricts speech no more than essential.
Supporting sources
No. The regulation is content-neutral and satisfies intermediate scrutiny when it protects badge integrity for security reasons unrelated to the message conveyed.
Supporting sources
A state statute imposes the death penalty for certain aggravated assaults that include permanent disfigurement of the victim. The defendant challenges the sentence as disproportionate to the offense.
A federal statute authorizes a sentence of fifteen years of hard labor in chains plus permanent disqualification from civil rights for falsifying a public document. The defendant argues the punishment is cruel and unusual.
A seventeen-year-old is sentenced to death for a murder involving extreme physical injury to the victim. The defendant claims the punishment violates the Eighth Amendment because of his age.
…States. . . . "287. Battering can often involve a substantial amount of sexual abuse, including marital rape and sexual mutilation. . . . "288. In a domestic abuse situation, it is common for the battering husband to also abuse the children in an attempt to coerce the wife. . . . "289. Mere notification of…