In an electro-surgical instrument (1), two electrode surfaces (25, 27) are provided for a first electrode (15, 31, 32, 34, 36) having different sizes, each forming a pair of electrodes with electrode surfaces (26, 28) of a second electrode (14, 16, 33). The smaller electrode surface (25) of the first electrode (15, 31, 32, 34, 36) can be used as the active electrode for cutting and the larger electrode surface (27) of the first electrode (15, 31, 32, 34, 36) is used for coagulation. During operation, the electrodes (14, 15, 16, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36) are connected to a two-pole outlet of a commercial generator that can switch between two output signals for cutting and coagulation. A layered, stacked structure of the effective area (8) of the instrument (1) of electrode bodies (14, 15, 16, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36) with intermediate insulating layers (17) allows a design resembling the shape of a knife or a blade (11).
