legal aspects of land surveying (v2)

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LEGAL ASPECTSOF

LAND SURVEYING

By

Dr. Tony Nettleman, PSM, Esq.

Copyright Nettleman Land Surveying, INC (2016) ©

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TOPICS FOR OUR LECTURE

• Court Systems

• History of Boundaries

• Boundary Creation

• Ownership Principles

• Estates in Land

• Conveyances

• Adverse Possession

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HISTORY OF BOUNDARIES

Fig 1: Prehistoric boundaries Fig 2: Modern boundaries

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FEDERAL COURT - LEVELS

Fig 8: Hierarchy of U.S. Federal Courts

U n ite d S ta te s D is trict C o u rts

U n ited S ta te s C o urts o f A pp e a ls

U n ited S ta tes S up re m e C o u rt

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Boundaries are Created Only Once

Fig 3(a) and 3(b): Two land survey plats

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HOW ARE BOUNDARIES CREATED?

• By Action

• By Words

• By Law

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PRIORITY OF CALLS1) Lines actually run on the ground by the creating

surveyor(s)

2) natural monuments or landmarks

3) artificial monuments and established lines, marked or surveyed

4) Calls for adjoining tracts that are senior in title

5) calls for courses and distances

6) designation of quantity

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THE INTRODUCTION OF THE TORRENS SYSTEM

• 1858 – SA passed the Real Property Act – Torrens as R-G

• Legal profession in uproar – one judge (Boothby J) actually removed from office in relation to his treatment of the Torrens system (1867)

• Now in NZ, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel – didn’t make it in most of the USA (is in Iowa)

• First introduced into NSW 1862 – later amendments consolidated into the Real Property Act 1900

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DEED AND DESCRIPTION• Deed: instrument or document by which a

property interest in conveyed

• Description: text inside deed that defines the interest(s) being conveyed

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ESTATES IN LAND

Estates in land fall into two catagories: freehold estates and non-freehold estates. With those two categories,

many types of conveyances are possible

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SIMALTANOUS CONVEYANCES

• Typically in platted subdivisions

• First, look for blunders

• Then compare the record and bearing distances to compute new values Fig 3: Subdivision Plat

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WHAT IS ADVERSE POSESSION?

• The transfer of interest in land without the consent of the prior owner and even in spite of the dissent of such owner

Fig 1: Kids Playing Tug-of-War