Calculations - Practical Boundary Surveying - page 209

14.7 Intentions of the Parties to the Conveyance
The phrase Intentions of the Parties to the Conveyance refers to what the grantor
and grantee agreed to when the grantor sold and the grantee purchased the property.
The intentions of the parties to the conveyance must be gathered exclusively from
the deed itself. The writing takes precedence over what the parties have to say about
it. Neither the grantor nor the grantee can contradict the writing. To allow a party to
testify that some portion of the deed does not represent the understanding clearly
expressed by the instrument is in effect a contradiction of the Statute of Frauds. This
does not mean however, that parole evidence (spoken testimony) cannot be used to
explain an ambiguity in a deed or explain circumstances in effect at the time the
deed was made. Because the meaning of words can change over time, explaining
what the words in the deed meant at the time of the conveyance is not contradicting
the words themselves. It is merely placing the words in their original context.
Where elements of a deed contradict each other, it becomes necessary to ascer-
tain the intentions of each of the conflicting elements. For example, suppose a deed
states “541 feet to a stone bound marked 'WP'” and the stone bound is found at
520 feet not 541 feet. If the stone bound is clearly in its original location, the bound
will control the location of the corner, and the distance will yield to that location.
The reason is that monuments have priority over distances. It is probable that the
monument more clearly expresses the intention of the parties than the distance.
People can see monuments and they can see where monuments are located. Because
people cannot see distances, the law considers distances to be more abstract than
physical objects and therefore a less reliable indicator of the parties' intentions.
Where elements of a deed contradict each other, it becomes necessary to
ascertain the intentions of each of the conflicting elements.
In the above example if the stone bound was now missing but there were people
who knew the location of the bound, their testimony would be admissible as to the
location of the bound and, if their testimony was believed, that location would pre-
vail over the distance of 520 feet.
In general, deeds must be construed as a whole and no one part of a deed
should take precedence over any other part.
14.8 Calls for Monuments
Monuments control over distances, direction and area. When an original survey is
made, the surveyor has an ethical duty, and in some jurisdictions a legal duty, to
set physical monuments locating the boundaries of the land being surveyed. The