Land is owned as private property in the United States and is transferred in various ways from one owner to another. To make this type of transfer possible, it is essential to have a system through which a purchaser can obtain a clear title to any tract of land. A clear title means that there are no legal claims against the ownership of the property. In order to transfer the real estate, its location must be positively and specifically described. If this is not done, endless arguments and lawsuits may occur.
Surveying land for the purpose of describing and locating it includes the work of identifying boundaries and recording descriptive data. Although different systems of surveys can be used, they all accomplish these two objectives:
A land description gives the definite location of a specific tract of land. Such a description can fit no other tract. From it you can locate that specific area. The legal description of property is given on many documents and papers, such as abstracts, deeds, and tax statements.
A land title, or title to a tract of land, is evidence of ownership. Title to real estate is dependent on a legal description of the property, which in turn must be based on an official survey.
Identify the systems of legal land description used in the United States
There are two systems of describing land used in the United States. One is known as the system of metes and bounds and the other is the system of rectangular surveys.
Metes and bounds—The metes and bounds system of describing land is widely used in many parts of the world and was the system initially used in the United States. In the eastern part of the United States, an area extending from the northern boundary of Florida to Canada and to the western boundaries of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and parts of Ohio, were described under this system. Texas, when admitted to the United States in 1845, had been previously a part of Mexico and has been described under a metes and bounds system. Since it is impossible to impose one system for land description on top of another, the old system has been retained. There are three basic items that can be included in a land description in the metes and bounds system. They are:
Starting point—A description according to the metes and bounds system must have a starting place or point of reference. The description continues for specified distances along lines called courses until the tract has been circumscribed and the starting point is again reached. These points may be trees, stones, rivers, or lakes and are called natural monuments. Natural monuments and artificial monuments, such as government markers, fences, or highways, have the disadvantage that they may be moved or destroyed.
Courses and Distances—Courses are identified by direction, with distances being linear measurements along these lines. Sometimes a course has been partly described as connecting two natural monuments, such as trees, but generally it is described in terms of its angle to a point of reference. The usual point of reference is a meridian or true north and south line.
Irregular boundaries—Some tracts of land, such as those bordering lakes or rivers, have irregular boundaries. A tract described as lying along a river is typically interpreted as having one boundary at the middle line between the shores of the stream. Lake boundaries are somewhat different. The owners of land adjoining a natural lake own to the center, if the lake is not navigable; otherwise the title to the bed of the lake is in trust for the people. The ownership of artificial lake beds depends upon the words of conveyance used in transferring the shoreline property. Streets and highways can sometimes also serve as boundaries.
Rectangular land surveys—In 1785 the Continental Congress of the United States passed an ordinance directing that a rectangular system be used in surveying public lands. Thomas Jefferson was directed to organize it. The United States was the first country to use such a system, but Canada later adopted it. The rectangular survey system was set up to accomplish two things:
Provide for definite location of the land by establishing corner markers on the ground
Provide a short, complete, direct, and easily understood legal description. The system involves the use of principal meridians, base lines, townships, sections, and tracts.
Principal meridians and base lines—These lines form the skeleton of the rectangular survey system. The intersection of the base line and the principal meridian is the starting point of the survey for a given area. The meridians are north and south lines. The base lines are east and west lines.
Townships and sections—The location of a township can be expressed in terms of ranges east or west of the principal meridian and in terms of tiers of townships north or south of the base line. A regular township is six miles square. A section is located within a township. Each square mile of a township is considered a section. In all surveys since 1796, the sections in each township have been numbered from 1 to 36, beginning at the upper right, or northeast, corner of the township.
Tracts of land—A tract of land is located within a section. If the tract in question is smaller than a section or is located in more than one section, the fraction or fractions of the section or sections must be indicated. This is done by identifying and locating the fractional portion of each section for each tract of land. In land descriptions the last fraction given is the largest area or portion of the section. We read from left to right. However, in writing a description from a map or in locating a tract of land on a map, we proceed from right to left.
Lesson
