Interpreting the words used is the first – and most critical – of many steps that must be taken in the process of performing a retracement survey of property.

Part performance represents yet another way that landowners can transfer title by actions on the ground.

 On a recent project, I retraced a 40-year-old survey in order to establish the boundary lines for a partial topographic survey of a 31-acre parcel. There was bad news and good news.

Practical location is one member of a nebulous pantheon of principles (also including acquiescence, agreement, adverse possession and estoppel) by which the courts attempt to fix disputed boundaries on the ground. The original dispute might have been caused by overlapping (or nonexistent) surveys and deeds, or by the inevitable loss of original monumentation over time. One theory holds that practical location may be considered a holdover from a much earlier method of property conveyance, where a potential grantor and grantee would consummate the sale of a parcel by acts on the land itself, rather than by the more modern method of conveyance by writing.

For one surveyor, it can mean simply utilizing the measurements (bearings and distances) in the client’s deed, acquiring a starting point and an azimuth

Black’s1 defines “title” in the real property sense as the “formal right of ownership of property.

Conditional or consentable boundary lines are often referred to in deed descriptions.

Land surveyors are second-class professionals by their own choosing. The title “professional” is largely achieved through self-proclamation.

While easements are often created by the common law principles of dedication and acceptance, land surveyors must also be aware of the significance of statutory law, particularly when a proposed dedication of streets or other areas is intended for public use.