Mutilate

i 1. To lacerate, wound, luaim. See Maim; Cruelty, 3. 3. To commit mayhem, g. v. See also Wound. 3. To render imperfect — which is something less than to " destroy: " as, to mutilate a will. The courts speak of "records mutilated by erasures" and "by corrupt interlineations." Purposely taking from a -will the signature of the testator deprives it of an essential part, and makes it so imperfect that it loses its legal force. The manner in which that is effected i^ not of controlling importance,^ See Spoliation.