1. Redundant words in a statute or legal instrument; language that does not add meaning (the court must give effect to every word, reading nothing as mere surplusage). [Cases: Statutes 202, 206. C.J.S. Statutes § 327.]
2. Extraneous matter in a pleading (allegations that are irrelevant to the case will be treated as surplusage). [Cases: Indictment and Information 118. C.J.S. Indictments and Informations § 136.]
“Surplusage is to be avoided. The perfection of pleading is to combine the requisite certainty and precision with the greatest possible brevity of statement. ‘Surplusage’ … includes matter of any description which is unnecessary to the maintenance of the action or defense. The rule requires the omission of such matter in two instances: (1) Where the matter is wholly foreign and irrelevant to the merits of the case. (2) When, though not wholly foreign, such matter need not be stated.” Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law Pleading § 316, at 514 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d ed. 1923).
