SURPLUSAGE. In Accounts. A greater disbursement than the charges amount to. A balance over. 1 Lew. 219.
In Pleading. Allegations of matter wholly foreign and impertinent to the cause. All matter beyond the circumstances necessary to constitute the action is surplusage ; 5 East 275 ; Allaire v. Ouland, 2 Johns. Cas. (N. Y.) 52 ; Kottwitz v. Bagby, 16 Tex. 656. Gener ally, matter of surplusage will be rejected and will not be allowed to vitiate the plead ing ; Co. Litt. 303 b; 2 Saund. 306, n. 14 ; Thomas v. Roosa, 7 Johns. (N. Y.) 462; Brown v. Manter, 21 N. H. 535, 53 Am. Dec. 223 ; as new and needless matter stated in an in nuendo ; Thomas v. Croswell, 7 Johns. (N. Y.) 272, 5 Am. Dec. 269 ; even if repugnant to what precedes ; 10 East 142 ; but if it shqws that the plaintiff has no cause of action, a de murrer will lie ; 2 East 451; 2 W. Bla. 842 ; Wilson v. Codman's Ex'r, 3 Cra. (U. S.) 193, 2 L. Ed. 408. Where the whole of an allega tion is immaterial to the plaintiff's right of action, it may be struck out as surplusage ; U. S. v. Burnham, 1 Mas. 57, Fed. Cas. No.
14,690. Matter laid under a videlicet, incon sistent with what precedes, may be rejected as surplusage ; Vail v. Lewis, 4 Johns. (N. Y.) 450, 4 Am. Dec. 300 ; and when the un• necessary matter is so connected with what is material that it cannot be separated, the whole matter may be included in the tra verse ; Dy. 365; 2 Saund. 206 a, n. 21; and the whole must be proved as laid ; Adm'rs of Conn v. Ex'rs of Gano, 1 Ohio 483, 13 Am. Dec. 639 ; Steph. Plead. 422; but an aver ment, which is surplusage and can be strick en out without injury to the rest, will not vitiate a pleading ; Hampshire Manufactur ers' Bank v: Billings, 17 Pick. (Mass.) 87.
When words occur in a statute which can be given no effect consistent with the plain meaning of the statute they must be rejected as surplusage ; U. S. v. Jackson, 143 Fed. 783, 75 C. C. A. 41.