Scrivener - Doctrine of "Scrivener's Error"

Doctrine of "Scrivener's Error"

The doctrine of a "scrivener's error" is the legal principle that a map-drafting or typographical error in a written contract may be corrected by oral evidence if the evidence is clear, convincing, and precise. If such correction (called scrivener's amendment) affects property rights then it must be approved by those affected by it.

It is a mistake made while copying or transmitting legal documents, as distinguished from a judgment error, which is an error made in the exercise of judgment or discretion, or a technical error, which is an error in interpreting a law, regulation, or principle. There is a considerable body of case law concerning the proper treatment of a scrivener's error. For example, where the parties to a contract make an oral agreement that, when reduced to a writing, is mis-transcribed, the aggrieved party is entitled to reformation so that the writing corresponds to the oral agreement.

A scrivener's error can be grounds for an appellate court to remand a decision back to the trial court. For example, in Ortiz v. State of Florida, Ortiz had been convicted of possession of less than 20g of marijuana, a misdemeanor. However, Ortiz was mistakenly adjudicated guilty of a felony for the count of marijuana possession. The appellate court held that "we must remand the case to the trial court to correct a scrivener's error."

Read more about this topic:  Scrivener

Famous quotes containing the words doctrine of, doctrine and/or error:

    We were as twinned lambs that did frisk i’ the sun
    And bleat the one at th’ other. What we changed
    Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
    The doctrine of ill-doing, nor dreamed
    That any did. Had we pursued that life,
    And our weak spirits ne’er been higher reared
    With stronger blood, we should have answered heaven
    Boldly “Not guilty,” the imposition cleared
    Hereditary ours.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    There is no doctrine of the Reason which will bear to be taught by the Understanding.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    You can hardly convince a man of an error in a life-time, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be. The geologists tell us that it took one hundred years to prove that fossils are organic, and one hundred and fifty more to prove that they are not to be referred to the Noachian deluge.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)