Boundary Law and Retracement Surveys
What this domain tests
Maine boundary questions turn on intent, evidence, and the hierarchy of calls. Expect retracement doctrine, monument control, senior rights, adverse possession, acquiescence, and water-boundary issues.
Core rules
- A retracement follows the original surveyor's footsteps; it does not create a new boundary.
- Evidence hierarchy: natural monuments, artificial monuments, courses and distances, area. A called monument generally controls a conflicting distance.
- Senior rights: where deeds overlap, the earlier conveyance usually prevails.
- Long-standing acquiescence or practical location can fix a line the deeds describe imperfectly; Maine also recognizes a 20-year adverse-possession period under 14 M.R.S. § 801, but the elements must be proved.
- Do not treat tax maps, GIS parcels, or address points as boundary evidence.
Worked example
A deed reads: 'beginning at an iron pipe; thence N 0° E 200.0 ft to an iron pipe; thence N 90° E 150.0 ft.' You find an undisturbed original pipe at 198.4 ft, and no pipe at 200.0 ft. The first pipe controls because it is an original called monument; the distance is record evidence only. If the pipe is a later replacement, weigh it with other evidence and explain the basis. The second course begins at the accepted corner, not at a mathematically 'corrected' point.
Traps
Assuming record distances always control; moving an original monument to fit the deed; ignoring an earlier deed in an overlap; and calling a line 'adverse' without proving the statutory elements.