Print this pageLand Boundary Surveys
Jan Van Sickle, P.L.S.
Course Overview
The law in most
jurisdictions has recognized a qualified surveyor as being entitled to both
recognition and responsibility. The surveyor's client employs him because the
surveyor has skills upon which the client is entitled to rely. Probably, the
least of these skills is the surveyor's ability as an expert measurer.
Among his skills that are considerably more significant are tracing the footsteps
of the original surveyor; his qualifications as an expert witness, his facility
at finding the proper location of a boundary, in other words, his knowledge
and, most important, his judgment. It is these qualities that are the foundation
on which a degree of trust in the surveyor by the public and recognition by
courts of law can be built.
There are myriad factors that a land surveyor must consider in exercising that
judgment. In the restoration of boundaries he must often sort out, among other
things, contradictory evidence, written and unwritten conveyances, several kinds
of deeds, easements, rights-of-way, and various encumbrances on the rights in
property. Guidance from the law, statutory or common, can be challenging, as
Frank E. Clark wrote:
" English
property law (upon which our American property law is based) cannot be
rationalized on the basis of logic, common sense or even modern principles of
justice. The 'common law' can only be explained as the residue of centuries
of development of a set of rules designed to meet civil and economic needs .
. . (Grimes 1976:33)
It is fair to say that the body of common law is more comprehensive than statute
law, it covers more ground. Therefore it is probable that a practicing surveyor
will find more frequent recourse to common law. Unfortunately common law is
not as conveniently documented, as is statute law. Luckily it is comprised of
the principles established from cases that have been submitted by parties to
legal actions so one way to discover their element is to study those cases.
It is often through them that principles currently in force have been built.
Learning all the
aspects of rights in property can easily take a lifetime. This course is designed
to offer just a few insights that might assist a land surveyor exercise his
most important facility, his judgment.
This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end, which is designed to
enhance the understanding of the course materials.
Learning
Objective
This course is designed to offer a few key concepts of common law by presenting some of the cases that helped establish important principles. They have been chosen to illustrate how these ideas are played out in the real world and offer a few insights that might assist a land surveyor exercise his most important facility, his judgment.
At the conclusion of this course, the student will:
- Be able to recognize some pertinent technical legal terminology such as laches, estoppel, statute of frauds and more;
- Be familiar with some of the principles that govern the extent of the estate conveyed by the language in a deed;
- Be able to understand some specific implications of the statement, "A re-survey must follow the footsteps of the original surveyor.";
- Be able to understand some specific implications of the statement, " A deed carries the greatest estate the language permits.";
- Be familiar with the difference between a patent ambiguity and a latent ambiguity in construction of a deed; and
- Be knowledgeable
in reasoning that courts rely upon to build principles in common law.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for land surveyors.
Benefit
to Attendees
Attendee of this
course will be able to interpret deed language in light of some well-established
principles at common law.
Course
Introduction
A surveyor's most
important tool is judgment. When it comes to boundary determinations the exercise
of that judgment is most often based on the monuments available, the measurements
taken, the evidence of lines of possession, former surveys, testimony and more.
However, the relative weight given these elements frequently rests on the surveyor's
understanding of two aspects of land boundary law, statute law and common law.
Statute law is usually more straightforward than common law. These laws, created
by legislatures are documented as such in the public record. Common law, on
the other hand, generally rests on the determination of what is right and wrong
as established by the courts. It is important to note that statute law does
not somehow repeal common law. However, if there is a contradiction between
statute law and common law, the common law is inactive as long as the statute
law exists.
These two cases; Sellman v. Schaaf and Davis v. Andrews, are significant in
that they reveal several of the ideas at the foundation of common law as it
relates to land boundaries. By studying them you can see how the concepts are
built and sustained by the courts and how they may actually be applied in the
field.
This course consists of the following six course modules.
Course Modules
Module #1
The course content
is in PDF format in each module. You need to open or download those documents
to study this course.
Course
Summary
Much, certainly not all, of the common law in the United States is descended
from English common law. It does not always harmonize with current ideas of
justice. Neither does common law always square with logic or even common sense.
Even though some principles of common law were developed to fulfill long past
needs, some of them still stand at the foundation of our work today. They have
stood the test of time.
Knowledge of common law is essential to the practice of land surveying. I trust
that this course has provided one small step on that road.
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.com or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
