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

Traditional methods employed to interpret ambiguous agreements or title documents are called Rules of Construction. These rules are to be invoked in ascertaining boundaries only when there is a conflict or inconsistency in the calls found in the field-notes or between the calls in deeds and those of the field notes.

If an accurate description can be built up from existing government monuments and field-notes, there is no uncertainty in the boundary line.

In a dispute, the courts will construe the evidence (interpretation of words) most strongly against the party who writes the deed (8, 11). The United States is considered as the writer when a patent for a parcel of land is issued.

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