However, historians have not yet explored the social and legal context surrounding earlier metes and bounds systems-obscuring the important role that nonstandardized property can play in stimulating growth. Metes and bounds systems have long been the subject of ridicule among scholars, and a recent wave of law-and-economics scholarship has argued that land boundaries must be easily standardized to facilitate market transactions and yield economic development. Since long before the settling of the American colonies, property boundaries were described by the “metes and bounds” method, a system of demarcation dependent on localized knowledge of movable stones, impermanent trees, and transient neighbors. Check out our PDH approved courses today.Abstract.
#Metes and bounds aphg professional
PDH Academy courses on topics such as Specifications for Descriptions of Land can help you fulfill your professional development hours. With these types of surveys, you can only make the most accurate determination from the information you have and the tools you have to work with. Not every metes and bounds survey ends in a lawsuit, but it’s easy to see how some do. Professional Development Hours for Land Surveyors In the end, the jury sided with a surveyor who said that although the original survey had unclear borders, it described a set number of acres and that this should be the determining factor in establishing borders. mentions a case in which a piece of property was poorly described by a surveyor using terms such as “more or less.” The property was surveyed three times over a period of years and each survey yielded markedly different boundaries. However, the less precise the original survey, or in cases in which the markers are no longer present, surveying the property can be difficult. If all the markers are still present, you can use modern technology to improve the survey and make it more precise. If you must survey a plot of land that originally used metes and bounds, it is best to try to follow the directions included in the original survey. Photographs and maps can help identify the boundaries described in a metes and bounds survey. Even images using technology as simple as MapQuest can help to more precisely mark a parcel of land that would otherwise be defined by measuring tools and compasses. says that now, photographs often accompany these loosely measured parcels in order to more definitely define the borders. From this point, the surveyor follows the compass needle for a specified number of feet, until reaching another point, be it a physical marker, tree, or rock.
This may be at an intersection of roads, a particular point on a stream or something even more nebulous. When using this method to survey land, the description directs the surveyor to start at a certain point. They may appear in a description as a building, rock, or other nonpermanent marker. Metes are distances between two points measured with straight lines, regardless of what is in between them. What, Specifically, Are Metes and Bounds? Thus, considering the impreciseness of these tools and descriptions, numerous lawsuits have been filed over the years disputing the borders in states that used metes and bounds. Land was described as starting at a certain point and continuing in a line based on the compass needle. These can fall over on their own, or malicious neighbors can intentionally move them.Īccording to, compasses, which are not always a 100 percent reliable indicator of direction, were often used in these surveys as well. Worse, when no obvious marker or indicator was present, a pole or stake may have been driven into the ground to mark the boundary. Of course, trees eventually die, rivers can erode land, and roads can be moved. Parcels were often defined by formations such as rivers, trees, roads, or other landmarks. The plots could be large, often encompassing many acres of farmland or heavily forested areas. It was the principle way to measure land before the Land Act of 1785, so much of the land in the original 13 colonies was measured this way, as well as in Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Texas.īefore technology, or even before sophisticated measuring instruments, land surveying was fairly imprecise. Metes and bounds is a method of surveying land that is centuries old. When using a metes and bounds survey, it might be difficult to find a parcel’s borders.
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