4.3 Deeds, Conveyances, and Description Elements
Key Takeaways
- A deed is a conveyance instrument, while the legal description identifies the land interest being conveyed.
- Descriptions may use metes and bounds, lot and block, aliquot parts, monuments, adjoiners, coordinates, or references to plats.
- The intent of the parties and the whole instrument matter when interpreting ambiguous deed language.
- FS questions often test whether a description is sufficient, ambiguous, conflicting, or dependent on another record.
Deeds, Conveyances, and Description Elements
A deed is a written instrument used to convey an interest in real property. For boundary analysis, the surveyor studies the deed because it identifies parties, date, operative words of conveyance, land description, exceptions, reservations, and sometimes references to plats or prior instruments. The deed is not just a source of bearings and distances. It is evidence of intent and of the property interest being transferred.
A legal description should identify the land with enough certainty that it can be located. Descriptions come in several forms. Metes and bounds descriptions proceed around a parcel using courses, distances, monuments, adjoiners, and calls. Lot-and-block descriptions refer to a recorded subdivision plat. Public land descriptions may use township, range, section, and aliquot parts. Descriptions can also call for roads, rivers, fences, walls, coordinates, or recorded maps.
Surveyors read the whole description, not isolated numbers. A deed may call to a found iron pipe, then a bearing and distance to a road, then along the road, then with an adjoining owner. If the measured distance differs from the written distance, the answer is not automatically to proportion the error or hold the number. The surveyor weighs calls, searches for original monuments, checks adjoining records, and considers the intent shown by the instrument and surrounding evidence.
Description elements and survey questions
| Element | Example | Boundary question |
|---|---|---|
| Monument call | To a stone, iron pipe, marked tree, or corner | Is it original, undisturbed, and related to the record? |
| Course and distance | North 40 degrees east, 250.00 feet | Does it fit the record and field evidence? |
| Adjoiner call | Along lands now or formerly of another owner | Does the adjoining chain support the line? |
| Natural feature | Along a river, ridge, or shoreline | Has the feature moved, and what doctrine applies? |
| Plat reference | Lot 6, Block B of a recorded map | What does the plat show about lots and monuments? |
| Exception or reservation | Excepting a road strip or reserving minerals | What interest is excluded or retained? |
Words such as exception and reservation matter. An exception generally removes something from the grant that otherwise would pass. A reservation creates or retains a right in favor of the grantor. Mineral rights, access rights, easements, and life estates can appear in deed language. The surveyor may need to map the affected area or report the record condition, while legal interpretation of ownership interests may require an attorney or court.
Ambiguity can be patent or latent. A patent ambiguity appears on the face of the document, such as missing calls or inconsistent wording. A latent ambiguity appears when applying the description on the ground, such as two monuments matching one call. FS questions may ask which additional evidence would best resolve the ambiguity.
A practical exam habit is to identify the description's controlling reference. If it is a lot-and-block description, inspect the plat. If it is a metes and bounds description, evaluate monuments, courses, distances, adjoiners, and senior calls. If it includes exceptions or reservations, do not assume the apparent perimeter describes the full interest conveyed.
What is the main function of a legal description in a deed?
A deed describes land as Lot 4 of a recorded subdivision. Which description form is being used?
A deed call has a written distance that conflicts with a found monument called for in the deed. What should the surveyor do first?