Legal Dictionary of Pakistan
Quick lookup for English, Urdu, and Latin legal terms used in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Surplusage
1. Redundant words in a statute or other drafted document; language that does not add meaning <the court must give effect to every word, reading nothing as mere surplusage>. 2. Extraneous matter in a pleading <allegations that are irrelevant to the case will be treated as surplusage>. "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).
Usage
1 A well-known, customary, and uniform practice, usu. in a specific profession or business. See CUSTOM (1). Cf. CONVENTION (3). "A 'usage' is merely a customary or habitual practice; a 'convention' is a practiee that is established by general tacit consent. 'Usage' denotes something that people are accustomed to do; 'convention' indicates that they are accustomed to do it because of a general agreement that it is the proper thing to do." Herbert W. Horwill, The Usages of the American Constitution 22 (1925). "Although rules of law are often founded on usage, usage is not in itself a legal rule but merely habit or practice in fact. A particular usage may be more or less widespread. It may prevail throughout an area, and the area may be small or large - a city, a state or a larger region. A usage may prevail among all people in the area, or only in a special trade or other group. Usages change over time, and persons in close association often develop temporary usages peculiar to themselves." Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 219 curt. a (1981).
custom and usage
General rules and practices that have become generally adopted through unvarying habit and common use. Cf. CUSTOM (1); USAGE.
general usage
A usage that prevails throughout a country or particular trade or profession; a usage that is not restricted to a local area.
immemorial usage
A usage that has existed for a very long time; longstanding custom. See TIME IMMEMORIAL.
local usage
A practice or method regularly observed in a particular place, sometimes considered by a court in interpreting a document. UCC § 1-205(2)(3). See CUSTOM AND USAGE.
trade usage
See USAGE.