Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors Newsletter The
Pennsylvania Surveyor Spring 2016
Surveying Beyond Boundaries
Inside...
SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
By: Gregory Clark, PLS
Boundary Surveying is mostly about history and law. Math and measuring are rather incidental to a boundary location in contrast to most other branches of Surveying. History, or more specifically the re-creation of history, is the primary player in Retracement Surveying because of the fundamental rule “follow the footsteps of the original surveyor”. Law factors in because so much case law hinges on “footsteps”. The reason “original footsteps” are so important is because courts of law have decided it to be the best evidence of “intentions of the parties”. Furthermore, laws are written providing guidelines, or precedence, for situations where evidence of “original footsteps” can no longer be found on the ground. Perhaps the best evidence of “original footsteps” would be documented boundary monuments found in original location on the land.
Sufficient Evidence...1 President’s Message...3 NSPS Report...4 Summer Conference...5 Professional Practice...10 Volunteer Opportunites...14 Sustaining Firms...16
History goes back to the time of creation of a land boundary. As time passes many original monuments become lost, and the Retracement Surveyor rightfully should be suspicious of the accuracy of deed dimensions recorded by the original surveyor since methods and standards of measurement do not remain constant.
Stormwater Short Course...20
Member News..28
The Retracement Surveyor researches records, interviews landowners, scrapes the dirt, and stumbles over stone rows in search of clues that take him back as close as possible to the time of original footsteps. The Surveyor often must step back to gain perspective of an entire neighborhood before deciding on a specific boundary location. I have not seen it written, nor should it be, that a Surveyor is limited to only a specific short list of pertinent evidence to be considered when Continued on Page 18