Principles and Practice of Surveying Exam (PS) Legal Principles, Boundary Law, and Property Surveys Syllabus

Legal Principles, Boundary Law, and Property Surveys syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Legal Principles, Boundary Law, and Property Surveys in Principles and Practice of Surveying Exam (PS), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Sources of Boundary Law

   4 topics

   • Common law foundations of property rights
     • Origin of title and the public domain
     • Fee simple, easements, and lesser estates
     • Doctrine of relation back
   • Federal, state, and local jurisdiction over land
     • Federal land grants and patents
     • State boundary authority and police power
     • Local subdivision and zoning ordinances
   • Statutory versus case law in boundary determination
   • Role of recording statutes and constructive notice
2. 2

   Deeds, Conveyances, and Property Descriptions

   5 topics

   • Essential elements of a valid deed
     • Grantor, grantee, and competency
     • Words of conveyance and consideration
     • Delivery and acceptance
   • Types of legal descriptions
     • Metes and bounds descriptions
     • Lot and block (platted subdivision) references
     • Aliquot part descriptions in the PLSS
     • Strip and centerline descriptions
   • Reading and interpreting ambiguous descriptions
   • Writing legally sufficient new descriptions
   • Reconciling conflicting calls within a description
3. 3

   Boundary Evidence and Senior Rights

   4 topics

   • Priority of conflicting title elements
     • Order of importance: lines actually run, natural monuments, artificial monuments, distances, bearings, area
     • Intent of the parties as controlling principle
   • Senior and junior rights between adjoining parcels
   • Monument control and dignity of monuments
     • Found versus called-for monuments
     • Obliterated and lost corners
   • Parol evidence and extrinsic evidence rules
4. 4

   Unwritten Conveyances and Boundary Resolution

   4 topics

   • Adverse possession elements and proof
     • Open, notorious, continuous, hostile, and exclusive use
     • Statutory period and tacking
     • Color of title
   • Acquiescence, agreement, and estoppel
   • Practical location of boundaries
   • Riparian and littoral rights
     • Accretion, reliction, erosion, and avulsion
     • Ownership to ordinary high water and thread of stream
5. 5

   Easements, Encroachments, and Title Issues

   4 topics

   • Creation and termination of easements
     • Express, implied, and prescriptive easements
     • Easements by necessity
   • Encroachment identification and reporting
   • Title commitments, exceptions, and schedules
   • Liens, encumbrances, and clouds on title

Legal Principles, Boundary Law, and Property Surveys flashcards for Principles and Practice of Surveying Exam (PS)

18 of 49 cards from the Legal Principles, Boundary Law, and Property Surveys deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the common law foundation of property rights in the United States, and from which legal tradition is it derived?

   U.S. property rights derive primarily from English common law, which treats land ownership as a 'bundle of rights' (possess, use, exclude, transfer, and enjoy). These judge-made principles, inherited at the founding, govern boundaries and title except where modified by statute.

2. What does the 'bundle of rights' theory of property ownership include?

   The right to possess, use (and enjoy), exclude others, dispose/transfer, and the right to the airspace above and subsurface below (cuius est solum), each of which can be separated and conveyed independently (e.g., mineral, water, and air rights).

3. Explain the hierarchy of jurisdiction over land among federal, state, and local governments.

   Federal government governs U.S. public lands, navigable waters, and interstate matters; states hold residual sovereignty over property law, boundaries, and recording within their borders; local governments exercise delegated powers (zoning, subdivision regulation, taxation). Property/boundary law is fundamentally STATE law.

4. Which level of government has primary authority over boundary determination and real property law?

   The STATE. Real property law, deeds, recording statutes, adverse possession, and boundary doctrines are matters of state law and vary state to state, except for federal lands governed by the Public Land Survey System and federal statutes.

5. Distinguish statutory law from case (common) law in boundary determination.

   Statutory law is written law enacted by legislatures (e.g., recording acts, subdivision laws, statutes of limitation). Case law is precedent created by court decisions interpreting facts and statutes. In boundaries, courts apply statutes but rely heavily on common-law doctrines (monument priority, senior rights) where statutes are silent.

6. What is the purpose of a recording statute?

   To provide a public, official record of land transactions, establishing priority among competing claims and giving notice to the world of existing interests in land, thereby protecting subsequent good-faith purchasers.

7. Compare the three types of recording statutes: race, notice, and race-notice.

   Race: first to record wins, regardless of notice. Notice: a later bona fide purchaser without notice prevails over a prior unrecorded interest. Race-notice: a later purchaser prevails only if they took without notice AND recorded first.

8. Define constructive notice and contrast it with actual notice and inquiry notice.

   Constructive notice is notice imputed by law from a properly recorded document—everyone is deemed to know it whether or not they read it. Actual notice is real knowledge of a fact. Inquiry notice arises when circumstances (e.g., someone in possession) would prompt a reasonable person to investigate.

9. What are the essential elements required for a valid deed?

   (1) Competent grantor; (2) identifiable grantee; (3) words of conveyance (granting clause); (4) adequate legal description of the land; (5) consideration (often nominal); (6) grantor's signature; (7) delivery and acceptance. Acknowledgment is needed for recording but not for validity between parties.

10. What is the difference between delivery and recording of a deed, and which transfers title?

    DELIVERY (with intent to convey) plus acceptance transfers title between grantor and grantee. RECORDING does not transfer title; it protects the grantee against subsequent claimants by giving constructive notice. An unrecorded but delivered deed is valid between the parties.

11. List the principal types of legal land descriptions.

    (1) Metes and bounds; (2) Public Land Survey System (PLSS) / rectangular system (township, range, section); (3) Lot and block (recorded plat/subdivision); (4) Description by reference (referring to another recorded document); and combinations (e.g., strip/centerline, area, coordinate descriptions).

12. What is a metes and bounds description, and what does each term mean?

    A description that traces the perimeter of a parcel. 'Metes' are measures of length and direction (bearings/azimuths and distances); 'bounds' are the boundaries or limits (monuments, adjoiners). It begins at a defined POINT OF BEGINNING and closes back to it.

13. In the PLSS, how large is a standard township and a standard section, and how many sections are in a township?

    A township is 6 miles by 6 miles ($36$ square miles) and contains $36$ sections. Each section is nominally 1 mile square containing $640$ acres.

14. How are sections numbered within a PLSS township?

    Sections are numbered $1$ through $36$ in a boustrophedonic (serpentine) pattern: beginning in the NE corner (Section 1), running west to Section 6, dropping south and running east, alternating each tier, ending with Section 36 in the SE corner.

15. How many acres are in a square mile, and what is the area of a 'quarter-quarter' section?

    One square mile = $640$ acres. A quarter-quarter section (e.g., the NE¼ of the NE¼) is $\frac{640}{16} = 40$ acres.

16. What is the rule for interpreting an ambiguous or uncertain legal description?

    The controlling goal is to ascertain and give effect to the INTENT of the parties as expressed in the document. Courts read the description as a whole, in light of surrounding circumstances at the time of conveyance, and construe ambiguity against the grantor (who wrote it).

17. Distinguish a patent ambiguity from a latent ambiguity in a deed.

    A PATENT ambiguity is apparent on the face of the document (an obvious internal conflict). A LATENT ambiguity is not apparent until the description is applied to the ground (it reads clearly but two interpretations fit the land). Extrinsic evidence is generally admissible to resolve latent ambiguities.

18. What are the key requirements for writing a legally sufficient new land description?

    It must identify the land with certainty so it can be located on the ground without resort to other evidence beyond what it references; include a clear point of beginning, sequential calls (bearings and distances), monuments, an enclosing/closing boundary, the area, and proper reference to the survey, datum, and recording.

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