[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 25, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 25CFR150.2]

[Page 390-391]
 
                            TITLE 25--INDIANS
 
     CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 150_LAND RECORDS AND TITLE DOCUMENTS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 150.2  Definitions.

    As used in this part.
    (a) Secretary is the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized 
representative.
    (b) Commissioner is the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or his 
authorized representative.
    (c) Agency is an Indian Agency or other field unit of the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs having Indian land under its immediate jurisdiction.
    (d) Superintendent is the designated officer in charge of an Agency.
    (e) Tribe is a tribe, band, nation, community, rancheria, colony, 
pueblo, or other Federally-acknowledged group of Indians.
    (f) Bureau is the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
    (g) Land is real property, including any interests, benefits, and 
rights inherent in the ownership of the real property.
    (h) Indian land is an inclusive term describing all lands held in 
trust by the United States for individual Indians or tribes, or all 
lands, titles to which are held by individual Indians or tribes, subject 
to Federal restrictions against alienation or encumbrance, or all lands 
which are subject to the rights of use, occupancy and/or benefit of 
certain tribes. For purposes of this part, the term Indian land also 
includes land for which the title is held in fee status by Indian 
tribes, and U.S. Government-owned land under Bureau jurisdiction.
    (i) Administrative Law Judge is an employee of the Office of Hearing 
and Appeals, Department of the Interior, upon whom authority has been 
conferred by the Secretary to probate the trust or restricted estates of 
deceased Indians in accordance with 43 CFR part 4, subpart D.
    (j) Land Titles and Records Offices are those offices within the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs charged with the Federal responsibility to 
record, provide custody, and maintain records that affect titles to 
Indian lands, to examine titles, and to provide title status reports for 
such land.
    (k) Manager is the designated officer in charge of a Land Titles and 
Rec ords Office.
    (l) Title document is any document that affects the title to or 
encumbers Indian land and is required to be recorded by regulation or 
Bureau policy.
    (m) Recordation or recording is the acceptance of a title document 
by the appropriate Land Titles and Rec ords Office. The purpose of 
recording is to provide evidence of a transaction, event, or happening 
that affects land titles; to preserve a record of the title document; 
and to give constructive notice of the ownership and change of ownership 
and

[[Page 391]]

the existence of encumbrances to the land.
    (n) Title examination means an examination and evaluation by a 
qualified title examiner of the completeness and accuracy of title 
documents affecting a particular tract of Indian land with certification 
of the findings by the Manager of the Land Titles and Records Office.
    (o) Title status report means a report issued after a title 
examination which shows the proper legal description of a tract of 
Indian land; current ownership, including any applicable conditions, 
exceptions, restrictions or encumbrances on record; and whether the land 
is in unrestricted, restricted, trust, or other status as indicated by 
the records in a Land Titles and Records Office.