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about the preponderance of the evidence, giving due weight placed by the original surveyor later. Unless your evidence is
to presumptions, prima facie evidence (proof of fact until not properly evaluated, it is worthless. We the surveyor and
rebutted by other evidence) and law, that the location is we alone must determine what evidence must be rejected and
probably correct to the exclusion of other possible methods which will control.
of monumenting the property. The surveyor investigates It can be agreed that the amount, kind and quality of evidence
all possibilities, excludes the unlikely or improbable and to prove the correctness of a monument is a Monumental Task.
monuments in accordance with the most certain. In this case In proving the monument or the position of the monument
the surveyor must have moral certainty or that degree of proof at the time of the writing we need to consider the following:
that produces conviction in an unprejudiced mind.
1. The physical character of the monument itself.
It has been written that the surveyor that gathers the totality
of the evidence comes to the correct conclusions, whereas the 2. Probability or possibility of being disturbed or moved.
one with partial evidence makes faulty conclusions. It is the 3. Public records, filed maps and sometimes private records,
responsibility of the surveyor to obtain all the evidence available such as maps, notes, documents and photographs.
to make a correct boundary-line location in accordance with
controlling writings; failure to find all the necessary evidence to 4. Witness evidence.
make a correct location is not an excuse for an incorrect survey. 5. Hearsay evidence.

Having been involved in a few court cases and listened to 6. Common report.
the testimony of other professionals on the witness stand, 7. Measurements to prove record measurements.
I am clearly convinced that there are many misconceptions
about how to retrace boundary lines. A jury may not find 8. Witness monuments, power poles in the proximity of the
in your favor, however; they may be swayed by emotions or corner, old fences and old lines of possession.
misconceptions themselves. A good lawyer will pursue an Time eradicates everything living, along with many physical
Appeal and retry the case. Do the retracement the way it needs inanimate objects. As surveyors we should give some thought to
to be done and stand behind it with conviction to represent evidence preservation. We should give thought to the permanency
your client in the courtroom to the best of your abilities. There of the monumentation that we set, our identifying marks on
are many people who are willing to go to all ends to steal the monument and how we reference them. With the advent
something from an adjoiner. I would suggest not being that of GPS/GNSS, we can add one more piece of evidence into a
professional, by involving oneself in such behavior. Saying no future recovery effort, by assigning a coordinate to a physical
to that kind of a potential client relationship gets easier the object. NGS Coordinate Conversion and Transformation
next time you say it. Tool (NCAT) allows users to easily convert between different
I am reminded of a disagreement with a fellow practitioner coordinate systems. I realize that this is not a panacea; however,
over a boundary line location. It was substantial, in a small, one more piece of evidence. We should also consider accessory
older subdivision and was a seven-foot difference. I asked him, ties and witness objects for additional monumentation.
do you realize that your decision will put the lot lines through Photographs can now be included on our map, thereby giving
all the houses along this street, his answer was, “I only got further evidence of the monumentation that was set or found.
a thousand dollars to do the job and I held a couple pins I The filing of your map in the county clerk’s office, with your
found!” I asked, “Why did you even do the job? he replied, “it client’s approval, will also provide additional evidence for the
was all I could get.” No, he did not change his mind or even future retracing surveyor. By providing the future surveyor with
consider what I told hm. We all need to be open to revisiting more evidence, it could possibly ward off disagreements as to
our decisions and be prepared to do additional fieldwork. what monument should be held or rejected.
Revisiting your boundary decision twenty-four hours later
may bring a new thought to the mix that needs to be explored. In the end it will come down to what evidence was recovered,
our interpretation of the writings and our ability to be
We all have read and have been tested upon the fact that impartial. We should never be drawn into an emotional arena
for found monuments to be controlling boundary corners, with a client. We are charged with being impartial gathers
they must be called for in the writings, undisturbed and of all the facts and evidence. The weight of all the physical
uncontradicted by the remainder of the writings. When evidence should offer the proof to validate our decision.
bearings and distances are used in the deed to produce the
boundary corner an uncalled-for monument near the corner About the Author:
cannot be used to substantiate the corners’ location, not Rodney D. Michael, PLS is a longtime member of NYSAPLS and
unless one can verify the veracity of said corner as having been the Owner of RDM Surveying Consultants in Troy, NY.
EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 59 • NO 2/ 2023 • MARCH/APRIL 13