What Is a Clerical Error in Law

In law, people can use the term “scribe`s error” to refer to an error in a legal document that refers to scribes who prepared historical legal documents. Other types of spelling mistakes, large and small, can occur in offices around the world. Errors are also distinct from errors in judgment, when an employee intentionally alters the meaning of a document for fraudulent purposes. For a court order to be enforced and complied with, it must be very specific. Any spelling mistakes should be corrected if there is a possible ambiguity. “Typo.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clerical%20error. Retrieved 8 October 2022. A clerical error is a fraud committed by the clerk of the court and can be easily detected by reviewing the files. Such an error may be corrected only on the basis of information contained elsewhere in the minutes and not on the memory of the judge or registrar or by outside testimony. More than 18 minutes of Watergate recordings were reportedly erased by Richard Nixon`s secretary, Rose Mary Woods, in an alleged typo. Some authors have suggested that this may have changed the course of American history. [5] [6] A clerical or clerical error is an error made by a clerk responsible for recording or transmitting a document. The error changes the meaning of the document in some way.

There are procedures for correcting clerical errors, so documents can be modified to be correct, as it is recognized that errors occur and there is no benefit to making them more difficult to correct. However, correcting a typo is different from editing a document. Clerical error or scrivener error is an error that is due to a minor error or negligence, not an error that results from considerations or judicial findings. It can be an error in a letter, paper or document that changes the meaning of the same thing. Examples of spelling or typographical errors include inadvertent typos or omissions of a word, phrase or character when writing or copying something from the record. Such an error is made accidentally and not intentionally, so it should be easily corrected without objection. For example, if the amount of money that the defendant owes to a plaintiff is incorrectly recorded by a court reporter as $50 rather than $500, the plaintiff is not bound by that because it is simply a clerical error. Such an error may be corrected by the court, alone or at the request of one of the parties, as soon as it becomes aware of it. If the parties conclude an oral agreement which, if reduced to written form, is incorrectly transcribed, the injured party is entitled to the reform, so that the written form corresponds to the oral agreement. Such a mistake is the result of an oversight.

Such an error was written by mistake, not intentionally, and should be easily corrected without objection. If the amount of money that the defendant owes to a plaintiff is wrongly declared by a court reporter at $50 rather than $500, the plaintiff is not bound by that amount because it is simply a clerical error. Such an error may be corrected by the court, alone or at the request of one of the parties, as soon as it becomes aware of it. An application for a nunc pro tunc judgment can correct an error in your court orders. But this is just a method of correcting an error, and this only applies to typographical errors. An error in a letter, paper or document that alters its meaning, such as a typo or the unintentional addition or omission of a word, phrase or figure. A clerical error in a legal document is called a typographical error. Typos or typographical errors are also known as Vitium Clerici. An application for a nunc pro tunc judgment is not intended to correct a miscarriage of justice. There is abundant case law on the proper handling of a clerical error. [a] For example, if the parties enter into an oral agreement which, if reduced to a written form, is incorrectly transcribed, the aggrieved party is entitled to reform so that the written form corresponds to the oral agreement. [1] If your court order contains a certain type of error – a “clerical error” – one way to correct it is to file a document with the court called an application for judgment nunc pro tunc.