In
real property law in the United
States, land ownership refers to title.
Rule
1: The surveyor acts in a
‘quasi-judicial’ capacity.
Thomas M. Cooley, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court in the late
1880s, summarized the role of the surveyor: “Surveyors are not and cannot be
judicial officers, but in a great many cases they act in a quasi-judicial
capacity with the acquiescence of the parties concerned.” In other words, when
the decision of the professional surveyor is accepted by all interested
parties, it is as though a judicial decision has been rendered.
Rule 2: The surveyor’s responsibility to the public is equal to his or her
responsibility to the client.
Whether performing a retracement survey or attempting to reconcile a boundary
dispute, the surveyor has an obligation to the public (i.e., his client’s
neighbor) equal to his responsibility to his client’s interests. It is a
situation endemic to the professional status assigned to the surveyor through
public licensure.
Rule 3: The surveyor must
remain objective.
The surveyor and the attorney have distinctly different roles when trying a
boundary dispute in litigation. The attorney is an advocate for her client
while the surveyor is a witness offering expert testimony in an unbiased,
objective manner.
Rule 4: No ‘true answers’ are
waiting to be discovered, only
well-reasoned opinions.
“If a court upheld the surveyor’s evaluation of the evidence in the example, it
is because the surveyor arrived at a comprehensive and well-reasoned answer
rather than because he arrived at the theoretically correct answer … there are
no “true” answers waiting to be discovered, only well-reasoned answers.”2
Rule 5: Professional cooperation between surveyors is imperative.
Two surveyors coming to differing “well-reasoned answers” have a regulatory
obligation in some jurisdictions to seek a common understanding and, in any
case, an ethical obligation to reconcile their differences in order to meet
their social responsibilities.
Rule 6: The surveyor must strive to keep peace in the neighborhood.
The physician’s oath to do no harm may be reflected in the surveyor’s ethical
obligation not to disrupt peace in the neighborhood. The source of boundary
disputes between neighbors is often found within the realm of the surveyor’s
expertise, and it is often within the surveyor’s ability to reconcile
differences. It is also true that many boundary disputes have their origin in
the retracement work of a surveyor who, in his zeal to serve his client’s
interests, has failed to recognize a neighbor’s just claim.
References
1. Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth
Edition. Williams, Mitchell G., Esq. and Harlan J. Onsrud, Esq., in “What Every Lawyer
Should Know About Title Surveys,” Land Surveys, A Guide for Lawyers and Other
professionals, Second Edition, Section of Real Property, Probate and trust Law,
American Bar Association, 2000.
By: n/a
Posted: June 30, 2010 11:12 AM
Well put. I would like to see written into min standards the obligation to share with other professional surveyors all vital information pertaining to corner location opinions.
I have been refused records on many occasions in the name of competition, but, to me, this is only hurts the profession and the public in general. I cannot agree with a decision if I do not have the basis for that decision available to me. Too often the final survey is record of the opinions formed with no information pertaining to how those opinions were formed.
By: dave eisenberg
Posted: June 7, 2011 8:29 PM