Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Public Works Act 1981

Gazetting, revocation, amendment, and registration of documents

56: Minor misdescription not to invalidate documents

You could also call this:

“Small mistakes in land descriptions don't make government announcements invalid”

If you want to understand a law about public works, here’s what it says in simple terms:

When the government makes an official announcement about land for public works, it’s okay if there are small mistakes in how they describe the land. These announcements are called Proclamations, Orders in Council, or declarations.

Even if there’s a small error in describing the land or what people own on that land, the announcement is still valid. This means it still counts as official and legal.

For the announcement to be valid, it needs to have enough correct information so that the Registrar-General of Land can figure out which piece of land the government is talking about.

The Registrar-General of Land is an important person who keeps track of who owns what land in New Zealand. As long as they can work out which land the announcement is about, small mistakes won’t cause problems.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM46326.

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"Fixing mistakes in official documents"

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57: Plan and Proclamation or declaration to be registered, or

"Government must register when they take land for public works"

Part 4 Gazetting, revocation, amendment, and registration of documents

56Minor misdescription not to invalidate documents

  1. The validity of any Proclamation, Order in Council, or declaration under this Act shall not be affected by any misdescription in it of the land or of any interest in the land if sufficient information appears on the face of the Proclamation, Order in Council, or declaration, to enable the Registrar-General of Land to satisfy himself of the land intended to be affected.

Compare
  • 1928 No 21 s 330A
  • 1973 No 44 s 20
Notes
  • Section 56: amended, on , by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).