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In Search Of

Evidence: Following the Footsteps of the Original Surveyor

By Rodney D. Michael, PLS

I liken a retracement survey to a crime scene. We as surveyors have the unenviable available evidence. Then and only then can
task of sorting through and evaluating all the evidence. It is time consuming we arrive at a conclusion as to where the
and laborious, however; our search for the truth or shall I say finding and then boundaries are in accordance with the laws
following the “footsteps” of the original surveyor is our duty. The footsteps of evidence and the laws of boundaries.
followed will be the pieces of evidence created and then the evidence recovered. Evidence is not proof! Evidence is the
We will examine the written evidence provided to us by the client and through commencement of the recovery process
our own recovery efforts. We will seek out filed and unfiled mapping, field notes from which one must make conclusions
from other surveyors, state, county, city and town records. We will go in search and from these conclusions flows the proof.
of ancient railroad right of way mapping and public agency records. In reading In reaching conclusions from evidence, the
the adjoining deeds we will be looking for possible senior rights and potential most important need of the surveyor is the
overlaps or potential gores. Our fieldwork will gather all the physical evidence of ability to recognize and know what the
existing monuments and evidence of possession. A wise surveyor talks to everyone best evidence of that available is.
and tries to glean by their testimony any trivial fact that could be of relevance. Evidence can be broken down into nine
The most important aspect of the survey is to search out, find and uncover all the
different classifications:
Indispensable evidence, Conclusive evidence,
Prima facie evidence, Primary evidence,
Secondary evidence, Direct evidence,
Indirect or circumstantial evidence, Partial
evidence and Extrinsic evidence.
Surveyors gather and examine a variety of
evidence to prove boundary-line locations.
By providing the future Some of the evidence examined are written
documents, maps and historical facts, facts
surveyor with more evidence, of which the court takes judicial notice,

it could possibly ward off physical objects (real evidence) observed
by the surveyor, such as iron pipes, pins,
disagreements as to what monuments, trees, wire fencing, witness
objects, rivers, streams, berms.
monument should be Parole evidence, testimony from a witness
held or rejected. who observed the original monument,
now destroyed, a witness who can
explain a latent ambiguity, one which
is not apparent until it is located on the
ground by measurements of distances,
angles and bearings and by the surveyor’s
mathematical calculations.
A preponderance of evidence is not
necessarily just more than 50% of the
weight of evidence, it is defined as those
which inclines “an impartial mind as
to one side rather than the other” and
that which removes “the cause from the
realm of speculation.” In a survey, the
surveyor should satisfy him or herself
12 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 59 • NO 2 / 2023 • MARCH/APRIL