4.2 Monuments, Alternate Monuments, Exceptions & Witness Corners

Items 4 and 5: show every monument; monument every corner

Item 4. "All monuments, natural and artificial, found or set shall be shown and described on the survey plat. The monuments shall be noted as found or set." Then:

Item 5. "All corners shall be monumented, either by a found monument clearly described on the survey plat, or by a monument set as described above," with two exceptions:

• (a) a corner that falls in a creek, stream, or ditch, or in a gravel or asphalt road. Courses that intersect a creek, stream, ditch, or road used as a boundary "should have witness corners set on the line intersecting same" and clearly shown on the plat.
• (b) a corner on solid rock, concrete, or similar material that prevents displaying the license number, COA number, or agency name. Such a corner is marked in a permanent manner (a chiseled mark, drilled hole, etc.) and clearly identified on the plat, or witnessed by witness corners.

The rule contains no general client-waiver exception and no separate list of PCs and PTs. "All corners" means every point where the boundary changes direction. Where a curve begins or ends on the boundary, that point is a corner of the parcel.

Items 6 and 7: witness corners

• When required: whenever a corner monument cannot be set (for example, in a lake or pond) or is likely to be disturbed (item 6).
• Where and how: as close as practical to the true corner, and meeting the same physical standards as the true corner. So a witness corner is ferrous, at least 1/2 × 18 inches, and identified (item 7).
• How many: "If only one witness corner is set, it must be set on the actual boundary line or prolongation thereof. Otherwise, at least two witness corners shall be set and so noted on the plat."
• Ties shown: the bearing and distance from the true corner to each witness corner appear on the plat. If the witness corner is on the boundary line, only the distance is required.

Worked example: a corner falls in the bed of a creek that forms the boundary. The surveyor sets one witness corner on the high bank on the incoming line, 54.20 ft short of the true corner, and notes "WC on line, 54.20′ from true corner." Only the distance is required because the WC is on the line. If the bank were too steep on the line and the surveyor set markers off-line instead, two witness corners with bearings and distances would be required.

A witness corner is not the property corner. The description still runs to the true corner, and the witness corner is recited as a witness.

Item 8: commencing point and point of beginning

"The plat of a metes and bounds survey must clearly describe and show the monument marking the commencing point and the point of beginning for the survey." The rule defines both:

• Commencing point: a well-defined, monumented point referenced to the U.S. Public Land (GLO) Survey system or to another recorded subdivision plat or recorded and monumented city or county plat or map, used in a metes-and-bounds description.
• Point of beginning: a well-defined monumented point referenced in the same way, used as the beginning and ending point of the metes-and-bounds description.

This is how a Mississippi metes-and-bounds survey is tied to the PLSS or a recorded plat. A survey whose POB floats, tied to nothing recoverable, does not meet item 8. (If State Plane Coordinates are used, item 18 separately requires coordinates of at least two reference points; see Section 3.4.)

Describing monuments well

Because item 4 requires monuments to be "shown and described," practical plat notes include:

• Type and size: "Found 1/2-inch rebar," "Found 1-inch iron pipe," "Found axle," "Found concrete monument."
• Markings: "cap stamped PS 2841." The rule requires stating any license or COA number found on a cap.
• Condition and position: flush, buried 0.4 ft, leaning, or disturbed.
• Found versus set: "Set 1/2-inch × 18-inch rebar with cap stamped PS 3105" for new monuments.
• Treatment: whether a found monument was held as the corner or not held, and why. This ties to the discrepancy duty in item 9 (Section 4.3).

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