North Dakota Statutes, Rules, and State-Specific Practice
What this domain tests
North Dakota-specific law and practice: who may practice, how documents are sealed and recorded, and how the state's PLSS and coordinate system shape every survey.
Registration and the Board
Land surveying is regulated under North Dakota Century Code ch. 43-19.1 and administered by the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Entry follows the national path - NCEES Fundamentals of Surveying, progressive experience, and the Principles and Practice exam - plus the Board's application, renewal, continuing-education, and disciplinary rules. Use of the title and offer of surveying services require a current North Dakota license; comity applicants must satisfy the Board before practicing.
State-specific technical context
- North Dakota is Public Land Survey System country under the Fifth Principal Meridian; GLO plats and original corners are the primary record evidence.
- The North Dakota Coordinate System (NAD83) defines North and South zones; documents using it should state the zone, datum, epoch, and units.
- Section lines are treated by statute as public highways, subject to county action; this separates the road right-of-way from the fee boundary.
- Plats, certificates, and monument records are recorded with the county register of deeds.
Worked example
A county road follows a section line, and the pavement sits 12 ft north of the section line as monumented. A client wants the lot line set at the pavement edge. Reasoning: the statutory section-line highway is located by the surveyed section line, not by the constructed surface; the fee boundary is the section line as monumented in the PLSS record; the pavement location is an occupancy issue for the county. Stake the survey line, note the encroachment on the plat, and advise the client - do not move the boundary to match asphalt.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming a neighboring state's license, seal, or recording rule carries into North Dakota.
- Citing the wrong meridian or treating meander lines as boundaries of the Missouri River.
- Omitting the zone, datum, epoch, or units from a coordinate statement.