Methods of Land Description Flashcards
There are three more formal, precise ways of describing land which are used in the United States today. They are:
HInt: MB,RS,LBT
Metes and Bounds
Rectangular Survey (Government Survey)
Lot, Block, and Tract (Subdivision)
Before the development of the three modern systems of land descriptions, the _________ and _______ ______ was used. It is still used occasionally today, primarily in inaccessible or undeveloped rural areas. It uses natural and artificial landmarks and features as points of reference for property descriptions. The results are often more colorful than precise.
monuments and marking method
The _____ and ______ description is the earliest form of legal descriptions used in the United States, directly descended from the monuments and markings method. It makes use of the boundaries and measurements of the land in question. Fixed objects, called monuments, are
often used to establish real estate boundaries.
metes and bounds
A typical _____ and ______ description reads like a directional travelogue, an exact inventory of directions taken and distances traversed in an imaginary walk along a property boundary. It is the primary system of description in 21 states and the District of Columbia, and is used
elsewhere to supplement the prevailing descriptive form.
metes and bounds
_____ refers to the units of linear measure used to determine distances. Such a legal descriptions usually begins, and finally ends, at a definite designated place called the _____ of _________, or POB. The
description proceeds around the boundaries of the piece of land by linear measurements and directions,
ending where it began at the POB. A description that does not return to its original POB can not provide an accurate or legally valid accounting of the property’s boundaries.
Metes
point of beginning
Directions in metes and bounds descriptions are given in conventional compass terms. Property boundaries are described as running so many degrees east or west of true north or south. North and south are 0 degree references; east and west are 90 degree references. This method of describing directions is called the _______ ______. It makes use of the degrees in a circle to calculate direction. A
circle has 360 degrees. A degree can be broken down into 60 minutes, and a minute can be broken down into 60 seconds for more specific measurements. There are 90 degrees in a quarter circle.
bearing method
The illustration shows the northeast portion of the circle.The degrees in the quarter circle go from 0 at the north
point to 90 degrees at the east point. If the 90 degree northeast point is exceeded, then the directional notation is then termed “so ____ _______ _________”.
so many degrees southeast
In 1785, Congress adopted a completely new system of legal description and survey. The __________ ______ ______ divides surveyed land into a checkerboard of rectangular parcels. With the exception of the eastern seaboard states and Texas, the system is used today throughout most of the United States.
rectangular survey system
The rectangular grid-work pattern of the method is based on a system of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines laid out across a map of the United States. The vertical lines are called _________ _________ and they run north and south. The horizontal lines run east and west and are called _________. There are 36 principal meridians and 32 baselines in all.
(* In Louisiana we have two principal meridians, the Louisiana and the St Helena, and one baseline.)
principal meridians
baselines
In any given area, one principal meridian and one baseline will provide the necessary reference points for all survey measurements. The area in the square created by the meridians and baselines is further divided by _____ _____ and ________ _____. Range lines run at six-mile intervals on either side and parallel to each principal meridian. The six-mile strips of land between the range lines are known as ______. They are used to determine how far east or west of the principal meridian a specific area of survey lies. they are numbered outward from the principal meridian in the manner R1E, R2E, that is
Range 1 East, Range 2 East, and so forth.
range lines
township lines
ranges
Township lines run at six-mile intervals on north and south of, and parallel to baselines. The six-mile wide strips of land between the township lines are known as ________ ____ or _____. Rows are numbered
outward from the baseline in the manner of T1N, T2N, that is, Township 1 North, Township 2 North, and so forth.
township rows
tiers
_________ are formed by the intersection of range lines and township lines. It is the basic unit of subdivision in the rectangular survey system. Theoretically each measures 6 miles on each side and has an area of 36 square miles. However, this does not always hold true, for example,
along coastlines the boundaries will necessarily be irregular.
Townships
Townships are identified according to their ________ in a specific range and a specific township ___ or ____. Thus, every township has a two-part identity. For example, the township lying in the third tier south of any baseline and in the second range west of any principal meridian would be known as T3S, R2W, that is, township 3 south, range 2 west. The tier location always precedes the range location.
their location in a specific range
specific township row or tier
Every township is subdivided into 36 square parcels called ________. They measure a mile on each side and therefore have an area of 1 square mile, or 640 acres. In any given township are
numbered consecutively to 36, always starting at the township’s far northeast corner and counting west across the top row, and so on until the section in the far southeast, which is always the last to be
numbered, has been reached.
sections
Sections can also be divided into ____ or _______ sections. To quarter a section, horizontal and vertical bisection is used. Each quarter section is identified directionally: northwest quarter (NW 1/4); southwest quarter (SW 1/4); southeast quarter (SE 1/4); and northeast quarter (NE 1/4). Since every section contains 640 acres, every quarter section has an area one-fourth as large, or 160 acres. The progressive subdivision of sections is an essential feature of the rectangular survey system. The quarter sections can be further quartered to an area of 40 acres each.
half or quarter
Because of the curvature of the earth’s surface, surveyors have had to compensate for the convergence of the north and south (range) lines which would ultimately meet at the north and south poles. The distance between range lines very gradually grows less. This affects the east-west dimensions of townships which, if they are to serve as standards of subdivision and measurement, must always be of constant size. To keep the distance between range lines, and the length of the sides of townships as
close to 6 miles as possible, __________ ____ were introduced. Every fourth township line serves as a __________ _____. A slight displacement of range lines in adjoining tiers indicates their occurrence.
correction lines
The amount of correcting that correction lines actually do is small, though not insignificant. From any baseline to the fourth township line north of it (a distance of 24 miles), the east-west measurements of a township will decrease by about ___ ____, that is, by a factor of about 1 in 158, or 0.6%. By re-establishing the full, 6 mile distance between range lines, correction lines insure that the township will be able to play its role as a sufficiently precise standard of survey measurement and subdivision.
200 feet
