How is a boundary calculated when there aren’t any monuments?
Monuments can be disturbed or removed for a few reasons. Construction or natural events like erosion and floods are an innocent reason. Bad neighbours and sketchy developers are another. In any case, calculating the coordinate for a missing corner is a process:
1. Examine the Evidence.
First, surveyors will review the evidence that was found since any decision we make is always be based on actual evidence found on the ground so whatever is there is our starting point. Typically this evidence will be other monuments found at the other property corners or on adjacent properties and streets that will be used to calculate the missing corner. Also the fence locations and notes and any other occupation details on the line in question will be reviewed since these could affect the boundary.
2. Review the Records-gather more if needed.
Next, examine the historical records such as old plans and deeds. Most of this research is already complete since it was done before the fieldwork so the actual task is to determine if anything is missing. Does the found evidence agree with the actual documents? If yes the job is almost done since the missing corner can be calculated from the measurements (but typically it isn’t this easy).
The goal at this stage is to make sure that all available evidence is known. Are there any other old surveys, were all the fence details properly measured, etc? Talking to long-time neighbours can uncover informal knowledge about where the boundary once stood and could lead to more research to do.
3. Make a Decision:
When evidence doesn’t match the records surveyors will hold the best available by weighing the evidence against a hierarchy. This means certain types of evidence is deemed more important than others and is to be held first (i.e. an original monument is considered better evidence of a boundary than a measurement so will be held even if it doesn’t match the distance shown on an old survey).
The goal isn’t to find a perfect solution- that isn’t possible. The goal is to find the best solution with the available evidence. This means there will be disputes but given that all surveyors mostly follow the same rules- any boundary disagreements can be reduced to arguing over where the evidence is ranked on the hierarchy.
