1.3 Legal Descriptions and Surveys

1.3 Legal Descriptions and Surveys

A street address is not a legal description. The exam tests three accepted methods that unambiguously identify a parcel: metes and bounds, the rectangular (government) survey, and lot-and-block (recorded plat).

Metes and bounds

This is the oldest method, used heavily in the original 13 colonies and for irregular parcels. Metes are distances; bounds are directions/boundaries. The description:

• Starts at a defined point of beginning (POB).
• Traces each boundary by direction and distance, often referencing monuments (a natural or man-made marker such as an iron pin, oak tree, or road).
• Must return to the POB — the description must close. If it does not return to the POB, the description is defective.

Monuments control over stated distances when the two conflict (a fixed iron pin beats a measured "200 feet"). The weakness of metes and bounds is that monuments can move or disappear, creating boundary disputes.

Rectangular (government) survey system

This grid system uses principal meridians (north-south lines) and base lines (east-west lines). Memorize the size relationships exactly:

Sections within a township are numbered 1 to 36 in a boustrophedonic (back-and-forth) pattern: Section 1 is the northeast corner, numbering runs west to 6, drops down and runs east to 12, and so on, ending at Section 36 in the southeast corner. Township lines run east-west; range lines run north-south. A range is the column of townships between two range lines.

Acre math — worked numerics

To size a parcel from a rectangular-survey description, multiply the fractions and apply them to 640 acres (one section).

Example 1: The NW¼ of the SE¼ of Section 14.

• Multiply the fractions: ¼ × ¼ = 1/16.
• 640 ÷ 16 = 40 acres.

Example 2: The S½ of the NW¼ of the NE¼.

• ½ × ¼ × ¼ = 1/32.
• 640 ÷ 32 = 20 acres.

Example 3 (converting to square feet): How many square feet is a 40-acre quarter-quarter? 40 × 43,560 = 1,742,400 sq. ft. And a parcel measuring 435.6 ft × 100 ft = 43,560 sq. ft = exactly 1 acre — a favorite test value.

Lot-and-block, datum, and air lots

Lot-and-block (the recorded plat or subdivision method) identifies a parcel by its lot and block number on a plat map filed in the public records — e.g., "Lot 7, Block C, Fairview Subdivision." It is the most common method for platted urban and suburban lots.

Vertical references use a datum (a defined point of elevation, traditionally mean sea level) and benchmarks (permanent monuments marking elevation). These are essential for air lots and condominium descriptions, which slice space at specific elevations rather than just along the ground.

Choosing and combining methods

The exam may ask which method fits a situation. Irregular rural acreage with creeks and tree lines points to metes and bounds. A platted suburban subdivision points to lot-and-block. Large western parcels organized on a grid point to the rectangular survey. The methods can combine — a metes-and-bounds call may begin at a monument located by section reference, and a recorded plat itself is laid out using rectangular-survey coordinates.

Never accept a street address or tax-parcel number as a legal description; both can change and neither is precise enough to convey title. A second favorite trap is the strip-and-gore problem: a sloppy metes-and-bounds description that fails to close leaves thin slivers of unconveyed land between parcels, which is exactly why the requirement to return to the POB is tested so often.

Reading a Survey: Monuments, Plats, and Vertical Boundaries

Beyond the three description methods, the exam tests how a survey is actually read and where boundary disputes come from.

The order of priority in a conflict

When elements of a description conflict, courts apply a settled hierarchy: natural monuments (a river, a large rock) control over artificial monuments (an iron pin, a fence), which control over courses (directions), which control over distances, which control over area (acreage), which control over a place name. The practical rule the exam tests: a fixed monument beats a stated distance - if the call reads "200 feet to the iron pin" but the pin is 214 feet away, the pin governs and the distance yields. This is why monuments, though they can be lost or moved, anchor old metes-and-bounds descriptions.

Plats and the subdivision process

A plat map is the recorded drawing of a subdivision that creates the lot-and-block references. When a developer subdivides, the plat is filed in the public records and individual lots are then sold as "Lot X, Block Y." The plat also dedicates streets and easements to public use. Because the plat is part of the public record, a lot-and-block description is short yet legally complete.

Vertical measurement and air lots

Land is three-dimensional. Datum is an established elevation reference (historically mean sea level); a benchmark is a permanent marker referencing that datum. These let surveyors describe air lots and condominium units, which are bounded not just on the ground but at specified elevations - a condo on the fourth floor is a slice of space defined by horizontal and vertical boundaries. A favorite distractor treats a condominium as if it could be described by metes and bounds alone; it cannot, because the unit floats above the ground and needs a datum-referenced vertical description.