SURGICAL INSTRUMENT HAVING A LOCKING MECHANISM

The present invention relates to a surgical instrument (1) for clamping and cutting patient tissue, having two pivotable instrument branches (2, 3) which each form a distal clamping jaw (5) and a proximal handle element, wherein the second instrument branch (3) has a tissue cutting element (12) for cutting through patient tissue held between the clamping jaws (5) and a drive mechanism (7) for driving the tissue cutting element (12), and supports a locking bar element (15) such that said element can move between a locking position in which it engages in the drive mechanism (7) in a blocking manner, and an open position in which the drive mechanism (7) is not blocked by the locking bar element (15), wherein the locking bar element (15) has a magnetic locking-bar portion, and in a region opposite the locking bar element (15) the first instrument branch (2) has a magnetic actuation portion (17) for actuating the locking bar element (15), wherein the magnetic locking-bar portion and/or the magnetic actuation portion (17) has a magnet, such that when the instrument branches (2, 3) approach each other, the locking bar element (15) is moved into the open position as a result of the magnetic attraction or repulsion between the magnetic locking-bar portion and the first magnetic actuation portion (17), thus permitting an actuation of the tissue cutting element (12).