Question

In land surveying, when may occupancy be used as the best evidence of where original boundaries may be located?

Answer 1

Provided that better evidence does not exist or not recovered, the reputation of ancient existing occupancy may be used as the best evidence of where original boundaries may be located. In the orderly process of performing a land surveying, the surveyor follows nine steps, usually in this order to perform a complete job:

1. He obtains written evidence of title in the form of a deed, abstract, or title policy.

2. He seeks evidence of maps, field notes, county, and city records of surveys, states and other public agency records of surveys, and all written records that disclose evidence of monument positions pertaining to the survey.

3. He reads adjoining deeds for evidence of seniority or conflicts.

4. He goes on the land and seeks evidence of existing monuments and evidence of possession and usage.

5. He may seek evidence of the existence and location of old monuments.

6. He makes measurements from finding monuments to determine search areas or locations to dig for missing monuments, and he makes measurements ( also evidence) to tie found monuments together.

7. He makes calculations ( also a form of evidence).

8. From the evidence of monuments, measurements, testimony, and computations, he comes to conclusions in accordance with the law of evidence.

9. He uses measurements to set new monuments in accordance with his conclusions.

Before a surveyor obtains knowledge of all the available evidence, it is almost impossible to make a correct boundary location.