Boundary and Cadastral Surveying
Core concepts
A boundary survey is a retracement of existing rights, not a redesign of them. Candidates must understand deed interpretation, calls, ambiguity, possession and occupation lines, unwritten rights, easements, and water boundaries. In North Carolina, most boundaries are metes and bounds; tax maps and cadastral maps are administrative tools, not conclusive boundary evidence. A surveyor must evaluate monuments, occupation, and documentary evidence together and must recognize when a boundary is uncertain enough to warrant a recorded plat or legal description.
Traps
A common trap is assuming that deed distances control over monuments or possession. Another is ignoring an occupation line that may evidence an agreement, acquiescence, or adverse possession. Watch for meander lines: they are not water boundaries. In overlapping deeds, the earlier conveyance is generally senior, and a later grantee takes subject to the senior right if on notice. Do not treat a subdivision plat line as controlling when an original monument is found.
Worked example
A 2000 deed to Blackacre overlaps a 2005 deed to a neighbor by 12 ft. The 2000 conveyance is senior; the 2005 grantee takes subject to the senior right unless the earlier interest was extinguished or the later grantee was a bona fide purchaser without notice. Rule of thumb: when a deed calls for an adjoiner and also gives a distance, the call for the adjoiner generally controls.