Chapter 3 · National foundations
Legal Descriptions, Surveys, and Land Area
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Why a street address is not enough
A legal description must identify the property adequately for the instrument and jurisdiction involved. A street address is convenient for finding a building, but addresses can change and may not describe the whole legal parcel. A tax assessor's parcel number identifies a tax record; it is not automatically a sufficient Deed An instrument used to convey an interest in real estate. See Chapter 7. Glossary description.
The main examination systems are Metes and bounds A boundary description using courses, distances, monuments, and related references. See Chapter 3. Glossary, lot and block, and the government rectangular survey, also called the Public Land Survey System. Not every state uses all three. A survey locates boundaries and improvements; a Title The legal ownership interest or rights in property, distinct from the deed documenting transfer. See Chapter 7. Glossary examination identifies interests and recorded claims. They answer different questions. S05 S07 S08
Metes and bounds
Metes concern measured distances and directions; bounds concern boundaries or monuments. A description begins at a Point of beginning The starting and closing point of a metes-and-bounds boundary description. See Chapter 3. Glossary, traces the parcel, and returns to that point. A point of commencement may first describe how to reach the point of beginning.
A call such as “north 30 degrees east” states a direction relative to north, not simply a distance east. A monument may be natural, such as a recognized rock formation, or artificial, such as a survey marker. Rules for resolving conflicting calls depend on law and the circumstances; do not reduce every boundary dispute to a single universal priority slogan.
Example. A description begins at a marked corner, runs east 100 feet, south 150 feet, west 100 feet, and north 150 feet. It closes and describes a rectangle of 15,000 square feet. If the final call stops short of the beginning, the discrepancy needs investigation rather than an agent's guess.
Lot and block
A recorded subdivision plat divides land into identifiable lots and sometimes blocks. A complete reference normally identifies the lot, block when applicable, subdivision or plat, and the Recording Placing an instrument in the authorized public record system. See Chapter 7. Glossary reference needed to find the map.
“Lot 8” alone is weak because many subdivisions contain a Lot 8. The recorded plat may show Easement A right to use another's land for a defined purpose without owning that land outright. See Chapter 5. Glossary, setbacks, dedications, or other information affecting use. A subdivision's marketing illustration is not necessarily its recorded legal plat. S05 S08
Rectangular survey
The government survey uses Principal In agency, the represented client; in finance, the loan balance apart from interest. See Chapter 8, Chapter 15. Glossary meridians and base lines as reference axes. Township A standard six-mile-by-six-mile rectangular-survey unit containing thirty-six sections. See Chapter 3. Glossary lines run east–west; range lines run north–south. A township designation locates land north or south of a base line and east or west of a principal meridian.
A standard township is approximately six miles by six miles and contains 36 Section A standard one-square-mile unit in the rectangular survey system, subject to actual survey variations. See Chapter 3. Glossary. A standard section is one square mile, or 640 acres. Survey corrections, irregular sections, government lots, and physical conditions mean these are standard examination Assumption Taking responsibility for an existing loan under the governing arrangement. See Chapter 15. Glossary, not a guarantee of actual acreage on every parcel. S08
Standard section numbering snakes through the township:
North
6 5 4 3 2 1
7 8 9 10 11 12
18 17 16 15 14 13
19 20 21 22 23 24
30 29 28 27 26 25
31 32 33 34 35 36
SouthReading fractional descriptions
Read nested fractional descriptions from right to left when locating the land. The northeast quarter of the southwest quarter means first find the southwest quarter of the Section A standard one-square-mile unit in the rectangular survey system, subject to actual survey variations. See Chapter 3. Glossary, then its northeast quarter.
To calculate standard acreage, multiply 640 acres by the fractions:
NE 1/4 of SW 1/4 = 640 × 1/4 × 1/4 = 40 acres.
E 1/2 of NE 1/4 of SW 1/4 = 640 × 1/2 × 1/4 × 1/4 = 20 acres.
Direction affects location, not the multiplication. An equally sized western half produces the same acreage but identifies different land.
Measurements worth memorizing
One acre contains 43,560 square feet. One mile contains 5,280 feet. One square mile contains 640 acres. One square yard contains 9 square feet. A standard quarter-section contains 160 acres. Pearson specifically identifies the first two Conversion Unauthorized use or appropriation of another person's funds or property. See Chapter 19. Glossary as information candidates should memorize. S01
Rectangular area equals length times width. Triangular area equals base times perpendicular height divided by two. Front footage measures the boundary along the specified frontage, not the perimeter. A 100-by-200-foot lot has 20,000 square feet, but its front footage is 100 or 200 depending on which side fronts the relevant street.
Compute the standard acreage of the south half of the northwest quarter of a section.