Browns Boundary – My key points
Significance of Boundaries
1. A surveyor creates land boundaries. These created lines, which are separate and distinct from
property lines, are determined by legal principles and law.
2. A described closed boundary identifies a claim of right to any property interest for which any
person can make a claim of possession through a claim of title. These boundaries may be either
macro or micro in nature.
3. A person or landowner can legally convey only the quality and quantity of interest in land to
which he or she has title.
4. In most instances, there are no federal laws describing real property rights.
5. Although there are no federal laws of real property, property rights are identified by the state
laws and are protected under the U.S. Constitution.
6. Real property rights are determined according to the laws in effect in the particular locale where
the land is located. English common law is the predominant law, and it is described as the lex
loci
7. Once boundary lines are created, the contiguous lines may, by law or by the actions of
landowners who have vested rights, be changed or altered.
8. Law does not provide for two original descriptions of the same parcel.
9. Multiple boundary descriptions may exist for the same parcel, but only one is controlling.
10. There can be only one original boundary survey and description; all subsequent ones are
retracements.
- The enactment of the Statute to Prevent Fraud (Statute of Frauds) that required a written
document be presented in order to have a cause of action for certain legal problems and to
transfer an interest in land.
- Today, in any particular situation, the surveyor or attorney must consider whether the question
is one of title—who owns it and how much—or one of boundary—what and where the
boundary is.
- Title is the means or vehicle, usually documents, by which one acquires an estate.
- Rights, such as the right to take minerals, are attributes that a person may hold by being a
landowner.
- A person holding a lien on land may have an interest but not a title, depending on the respective
state where the property is situated. Interest and title are not synonymous.
- Property may be considered as corporeal, meaning some right that describes a tangible
element: a house, trees, a fence
Real Property:
Common-Law Rights
1. The right to dispose of property, not inconsistent with the law.