Cadastral Systems, PLSS, and Subdivision
This domain tests the Public Land Survey System as it exists in Missouri, the special surveys layered on top of it, and the statutory process that turns raw land into a recorded lot.
PLSS fundamentals
Missouri's federal townships derive from the Fifth Principal Meridian. Sections are subdivided by aliquot parts using straight lines between opposite corners - the center of a section is the intersection of lines drawn between opposite quarter-section corners, not the average of side lengths. Fractional lots occur along north and west township boundaries and along meandered water; the GLO lot acreage governs, and meander lines are not boundaries. Restoration follows the Manual of Surveying Instructions: single proportion for a lost section corner on one line, double proportion when corners on two intersecting lines are lost.
Missouri's special surveys
New Madrid certificate surveys, Spanish and French grants, common fields, outlots, and donation claims each carry their own numbering and calling rules. In those areas a deed may reference "Survey 214" rather than a section, township, and range.
Worked example
Record the E¼ corner of Section 12. The north line of the section measures 5,285.6 ft and the south line 5,272.1 ft, and all four section corners are original. The correct position is the intersection of the straight lines from the north and south quarter corners and from the east and west quarter corners. Setting the E¼ corner by measuring half of each line separately, then averaging, is wrong, because it introduces a bend into the record line.
Subdivision
Plats are approved by the county commission or municipal planning body and recorded under RSMo Chapter 445 (county planning under Chapter 64, municipal under Chapter 89). Dedications, easements, and vacation must appear on the face of the plat.
Traps
Assuming aliquot parts are exactly 40 acres; proportioning corners that still exist; and ignoring the GLO plat notes when the lots are fractional.