Land Administration, Cadastre and Survey Law
Questions test which registration system applies, how boundaries are proved, and how a dispute is resolved.
Registration models
- Deed registration records the instrument. The state does not guarantee title, so a purchaser must investigate the chain of title.
- Title registration (Torrens) registers the title itself. The register is conclusive and the state may compensate a party deprived by an error - the principle of indefeasibility, subject to exceptions such as fraud.
Parcels and boundaries
- Fixed boundaries are monumented and coordinated and are not moved by a later survey; general boundaries follow physical features such as hedges or walls, and the exact line is not guaranteed.
- Boundary evidence priority: natural monuments, then artificial monuments, then courses and distances, then area. A call for an adjoining owner's line is treated as a monument.
- LADM (ISO 19152) models parties, rights, restrictions and responsibilities (RRR) over spatial units and separates the legal from the spatial component. Fit-for-purpose land administration favours affordable, quick coverage over survey perfection.
Worked example: a deed reads "to the oak tree, thence north 200 m". The measured distance to the oak is 197 m. The natural monument controls; the bearing and distance are treated as approximate and the boundary runs to the tree, not to the computed point.
Traps
- Assuming a general boundary is mathematically fixed.
- Overlooking easements and rights of way as restrictions that affect value and use.
- Quoting an area from a deed as if it guaranteed the extent of the parcel.