General

PRINCIPLE II Once established, corners of the Public Lands are fixed in their monumented positions but the government may survey or resurvey its public lands as it chooses.

Lines As Marked and Surveyed

Monuments

Conclusive Evidence Outweighs the Record

Resurvey

Line Trees and Blazed Lines

PRINCIPLE III: The Court will consider the intent of the parties reconstruction of deed descriptions.

General

Closing Corners

Plats

PRINCIPLE IV: The Plat and the field notes are considered together with, and as part of, the grant (patent) itself.

Original Field Notes and Plat

A. An Original Surveyor's Mistake which is Identified will be Considered by the Courts Toward Placing the Entire Blunder where it Occurred.

Place the Blunder W here the Blunder Occurred

B. CORNERS ARE RESTORED BY THE NEAREST AND BEST AVAILABLE EVIDENCE:

Existent Corner

Obliterated Corner

Lost Corner

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General

Corner Restoration Fundamentals General

The Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may designate, is authorized to enforce and carry into execution, by appropriate regulations, every part of the provisions of the Public Land Laws not otherwise specially provided for. (1, 5) The Code of Federal Regulations and the Manual of Surveying Instructions are products of the authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior to make such appropriate regulations as to enforce and carry into execution the provisions of the public land laws not otherwise specially provided for.

Interior Decisions are regulations issued by the Department of the Interior and are considered as law by BLM employees. Some Interior Decisions pertain to methods of execution of the surveys of the public lands.

Caution: Some Interior Decisions (previously called Land Decisions) were issued between dates of issue of Manual of Surveying Instructions.

The Secretary of the Interior may, as of March 3, 1909, in his discretion, cause to be made, as he may deem wise under the rectangular system on that date provided by law, such resurveys or retracements of the surveys of public lands as, after full investigation, he may deem essential to properly mark the boundaries of the public lands remaining undisposed of: PROVIDED, That no such resurvey or retracement shall be so executed as to impair the bona fide rights or claims of any claimant, entrymen, or owner of lands affected by such resurvey or retracement:

The general rules which control the location of all public lands and the fundamentals of corner restoration have evolved from the authority vested in the Secretary, statutory law, common law, and court decisions. These rules and fundamentals are now followed by the Bureau of Land Management.

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