§343 Correction of Errors in Allotments and Patents

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior can fix and cancel land patents that were wrongly issued while the United States still holds the land in trust. This includes when the same land was given twice, a false or different name was used, or the patent described the land wrong. If the original patent cannot be found, the cancellation still counts if it is recorded in the Bureau of Land Management. If the land would otherwise be open to entry, it can be opened for settlement without a proclamation. The land cannot be settled until sixty days after the cancellation. A conditional patent given to an Indian cannot be canceled without Congress, except where this law already allows it or when the patentee or their heirs give up the conditional patent to take another allotment.