Boundary Surveying and Retracement
What the exam tests
Boundary items test retracement of existing boundaries rather than creation of new ones: evidence hierarchy, PLSS corner reestablishment, riparian boundaries, possession, and deed interpretation. Expect fact patterns where a record distance conflicts with a found monument.
Core rules
- Evidence hierarchy: natural monuments, artificial monuments, courses and distances, area, then coordinates.
- Original government corners are held. A lost corner is reestablished by proportionate measurement between the nearest existent original corners, not by record bearing alone.
- Follow the original surveyor's footsteps. An original, undisturbed monument called for in a deed normally controls over a record distance.
- Meander lines along a navigable water body are not boundary lines; the water is, subject to state law. Accretion is gradual and belongs to the riparian owner; avulsion does not move the boundary.
- Possession lines can support adverse possession or boundary by agreement when the statutory elements are met.
Worked example
A deed reads "N 00°00'00" E 500.00 ft to an iron pin." The original iron pin is found at 496.3 ft. The called-for monument controls, so the boundary length is 496.3 ft, provided the pin is original and undisturbed. Do not "correct" the deed to 500.00 ft. If the pin were a later replacement, investigate the record and other evidence before holding it.
Traps
- Holding record distance over an original monument.
- Proportioning a lost corner from nonexistent or junior corners.
- Treating state-plane coordinates as monuments.
- Ignoring a call for an adjoiner or a line actually run.
- Using a meander line as the legal water boundary.