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 Records 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 Records 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 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.