The Martyrium of the Hippolyt by Dieric Bouts, shows a man about to be dismembered.

Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. A limb (from the Old English lim) is a jointed or Prehensile (as Octopus tentacles or new world Monkey tails Appendage of the It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. An accident is a specific identifiable unexpected unusual and unintended external event which occurs in a particular time and place without apparent or deliberate Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries Cannibalism (from Spanish es ''caníbal'' in connection with cannibalism among the Antillean Caribs, also called anthropophagy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος As opposed to surgical amputation of the limbs, dismemberment is often fatal to all but the simplest of creatures. Surgery (from the χειρουργική cheirourgikē, via chirurgiae meaning "hand work" is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma or Surgery.

Dismemberment was carried out in the Medieval era by tying a person's limbs to a chain or other constraint, then attaching the restraint to two separate movable entities (eg. a vehicle) and moving them in opposite directions. Also referred to as "disruption" or being "drawn and quartered", it could be brought about by chaining four horses to the condemned's arms and legs, thus making them pull him apart, as was the case with the execution of Robert-François Damiens and François Ravaillac in 1610. To be hanged drawn and quartered was the penalty once ordained in England for the crime of High treason. Robert-François Damiens (La Thieuloye 9 January 1715 - Paris 28 March 1757) was a Frenchman who attained notoriety by unsuccessfully François Ravaillac (1578 &ndash May 27, 1610) was a French Factotum in the courts of Angoulême and sometime tutor a religious Catholic zealot who murdered Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia, executed in 613 is generally regarded to have suffered the same death, though she was tied to the tail of a single horse.

There are many instances of dismemberment in modern cases, including those of murder. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is infamous for his dismemberment and consumption of his victims. A serial killer is a person who Murders usually three or more people with a "cooling off" period between each murder and whose motivation for killing is largely based Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (May 21 1960—November 28 1994 was an American Serial killer. In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband's penis (this was not a murder, as her husband was not killed). John Wayne Bobbitt (born March 23 1967 in Buffalo New York) and Lorena Leonor Bobbitt ( Née Gallo (born 1970 in In 1998, three men from Texas dismembered James Byrd, Jr. by chaining him to their pickup truck and dragging him for miles. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. James Byrd Jr ( May 2, 1949 - June 7, 1998) was an African-American Murdered in 1998 by Shawn Allen Berry Lawrence Russell A pickup truck is a light Motor vehicle with an open-top rear cargo area which is almost always separated from the cab to allow for chassis flex when carrying or pulling In 2005, a student from the University of Texas at Austin dismembered a young woman by severing her hands and head (which also counts as a decapitation). Decapitation (from Latin, caput, capitis, meaning head or beheading, is the cutting off of the head of a person or animal

A famous device used for dismemberment is the rack, upon which the condemned is chained down by the wrists and ankles, on a large bed-like frame, and a wheel is subsequently turned, winding in the chains and causing an immense stretching.

This type of punishment was often used in Far Eastern countries such as China and Korea. In Korea, for instance, during the periods of 12th and 18th century, there was a form of punishment that was, influenced from China, called "Geo Yeol" or "ChaYeol" that involved four hooved animals (eg. , oxen or horses) and a criminal. This has been mistakingly widely known as "Neung Ji Cheo Cham" in Korea though it actually meant a sort of flaying. Flaying is the removal of Skin from the Body. Generally an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact The condemned's legs and arms would each be tied to the four animals separately, and then all four animals would be commanded or whipped to run in opposite directions, thereby literally 'tearing' the condemned's body in 5 pieces (two legs, two arms and the torso). It was formally actually banned in Korea after 1894.

Dismemberment is not known to be used by any modern governments as a form of torture or capital punishment. Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment.

The famous execution of Túpac Amaru II (José Gabriel Condorcanqui), who was initially sentenced to be dismembered by having four horses pull out his limbs, an action the Spaniards were not able to accomplish. Túpac Amaru II (José Gabriel Túpac Amaru b March 19, 1742 in Tinta Cusco, Peru &ndash executed in Cusco May 18, 1781

See also

• Decapitation