RECTIFICATION
rectification (rek-t<<schwa>>-fi-kay-sh<<schwa>>n), n.1. A court’s equitable correction of a
contractual term that is misstated; the judicial alteration of a written contract to make it conform to
the true intention of the parties when, in its original form, it did not reflect this intention. • As an
equitable remedy, the court alters the terms as written so as to express the true intention of the
parties. The court might do this when the rent is wrongly recorded in a lease or when the area of
land is incorrectly cited in a deed. [Cases: Reformation of Instruments 1. C.J.S. Reformation of
Instruments §§ 2–5, 12, 16.] 2. A court’s slight modification of words of a statute as a means of
carrying out what the court is convinced must have been the legislative intent. • For example,
courts engage in rectification when they read and as or or shall as may, as they frequently must do
because of unfastidious drafting. See REFORMATION. — rectify,vb. [Blacks Law 8th]