25 U.S.C. § 343 — Correction of errors in allotments and patents

submitted 131 years ago by ch. 50 to r/title-25-INDIANS · 253 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

The Secretary of the Interior can fix mistakes in Indian land allotments, such as a double allotment made under an assumed name, or an error in a patent's land description. The Secretary can cancel a wrongly issued patent while the U.S. still holds the land in trust, even without the original patent in hand. Corrected land isn't open to settlement for sixty days, and most conditional patents can't be canceled without Congress's approval.

If it turns out that the Secretary of the Interior wrongly or mistakenly gave an Indian a double allotment of land — whether under an assumed name or otherwise — or made a mistake describing the land in a patent, the Secretary has authority and a duty to fix it. This power exists as long as the United States holds the land in trust for that Indian under a conditional patent. The Secretary may correct such mistakes and cancel any patent that was wrongly or erroneously issued, whenever the Secretary decides it should be canceled because of an error in issuing it. If the original patent can't be obtained back, canceling it on the records of the Bureau of Land Management is enough — no formal proclamation is needed to reopen the land for settlement, as long as the land would otherwise be open to entry. Two provisos limit this power. First, the corrected land can't be opened to settlement until sixty days after the cancellation. Second, no conditional patent already issued, or issued later, to an Indian allottee can be canceled without Congress's authority — except in the cases already described in this section, or where the patentee (or the patentee's heirs) gives up the conditional patent to take a different allotment instead.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

In all cases where it shall appear that a double allotment of land has been wrongfully or erroneously made by the Secretary of the Interior to any Indian by an assumed name or otherwise, or where a mistake has been made in the description of the land inserted in any patent, said Secretary is authorized and directed, during the time that the United States may hold the title to the land in trust for any such Indian, and for which a conditional patent may have been issued, to rectify and correct such mistakes and cancel any patent which may have been thus erroneously and wrongfully issued whenever in his opinion the same ought to be canceled for error in the issue thereof, and if possession of the original patent cannot be obtained, such cancellation shall be effective if made upon the records of the Bureau of Land Management; and no proclamation shall be necessary to open to settlement the lands to which such an erroneous allotment patent has been canceled, provided such lands would otherwise be subject to entry: And provided, That such lands shall not be open to settlement for sixty days after such cancellation: And further provided, That no conditional patent that has been or that may be executed in favor of any Indian allottee, excepting in cases hereinbefore authorized, and excepting in cases where the conditional patent is relinquished by the patentee or his heirs to take another allotment, shall be subject to cancellation without authority of Congress.

Source credit: (Jan. 26, 1895, ch. 50, 28 Stat. 641; Apr. 23, 1904, ch. 1489, 33 Stat. 297; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1895Enacted · Act of Jan. 26, 1895, ch. 50 · 28 Stat. 641
1904Amended · Act of Apr. 23, 1904, ch. 1489 · 33 Stat. 297

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 50 on 1895-01-26.

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