Boundary and Cadastral Surveys
Evidence and the retracement hierarchy
A boundary survey retraces an existing boundary rather than creating a new one. The classic hierarchy of evidence is: natural monuments, artificial monuments, courses (bearings), distances, and finally area or quantity. Monuments called for in a deed control over the measurements that describe them, but only the monument actually called for - a stray pipe found nearby cannot be substituted for the one the deed names. Senior rights prevail: the parcel conveyed first is not diminished by a later conveyance from the same grantor.
Water boundaries
Accretion and reliction (gradual, imperceptible change) move the boundary; avulsion (a sudden change of channel) does not. Meander lines along a stream do not bound the parcel; they approximate the bank for area purposes, and the water itself is the boundary.
PLSS retracement
Townships are nominally 6 × 6 miles containing 36 sections; section 1 lies in the northeast corner and numbering serpentines so that section 6 is the southeast corner of the northeast section stack. Standard parallels (correction lines) close the system, and closing corners are set on them. A lost interior corner is restored by double proportion; a lost corner on a line between two accepted corners is restored by single proportion. Obliterated corners are re-established from remaining evidence and original record, not proportioned away.
Worked example
A deed calls for "to an iron pin, thence N 30° E 200.00 ft." If the pin is recovered but the distance measures 197.32 ft, record the pin and note the discrepancy; do not hold the recorded distance over the monument and do not move the pin.