Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 11
Field Work—Finding Monuments
The first order of business when the surveyor goes into the field on a new survey is
to find the monuments that will control the locations of boundaries. These monu-
ments could be street monuments which fix the location of street lines. They could
be monuments called for in the client's deed. They could be monuments called for
in the deeds of abutting properties. If the client's land is a lot in a subdivision, the
monuments could be called for on the subdivision plan.
11.1 Monuments Must Be Called-for in the Record
in Order to Control
When a surveyor finds a stone bound or other monument near a property corner
there is an understandable tendency to consider that monument as controlling
the location of the property corner. However, for the monument to be control-
ling it must be Called-For in the record information. The monument must be
an original monument. The deed describing the parcel, or a plan called for in
the deed, must specifically call for and describe the monument. The monument
as found must comport with the record description as to location and type. For
example a deed call such as “thence running North 34° West, 456.34 feet to a
stone bound” would be a call for the stone bound. If the deed call was instead
“thence running North 34° West, 456.34 feet to a corner” and a stone bound
was found at that location, the bound would not control the location of the
record lot corner. An exception to this rule is that a bound not called for in the
record would be controlling if there were other evidence to show that it actually
occupied the record location.
