Missouri Laws 60.315 – Lost corners reestablishment — rules
The following rules for the reestablishment of lost corners shall be applied only when it is determined that the corner is lost: (The rules utilize proportional measurement which harmonizes surveying practice with legal and equitable considerations. This plan of relocating a lost corner is always employed unless it can be shown that the corner so located is in substantial disagreement with the general scheme of the original government survey as monumented. In such cases the surveyor shall use procedures that produce results consistent with the original survey of that township.)
(1) Existent original corners shall not be disturbed. Consequently, discrepancies between the new and record measurements shall not in any manner affect the measurements beyond the existent corners; but the differences shall be distributed proportionately within the several intervals along the line between the corners;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 60.315
- Double proportionate measurement: a measurement applied to a new measurement made between four known corners, two each on intersecting meridional and latitudinal lines, for the purpose of relating the intersection to both. See Missouri Laws 60.301
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Lost corner: a corner whose position cannot be determined, beyond reasonable doubt, either from traces of the original marks or from acceptable evidence or testimony that bears upon the original position. See Missouri Laws 60.301
- Original government survey: that survey executed under the authority of the United States government as recorded on the official plats and field notes of the United States public land survey maintained by the Missouri department of agriculture. See Missouri Laws 60.301
- Proportionate measurement: a measurement of a line that gives equal relative weight to all parts of the line. See Missouri Laws 60.301
- Single proportionate measurement: a measurement of a line applied to a new measurement made between known points on a line to determine one or more positions on that line. See Missouri Laws 60.301
(2) Standard parallels shall be given precedence over other township exteriors, and, ordinarily, the latter shall be given precedence over subdivisional lines; section corners shall be located or reestablished before the position of lost quarter-section corners can be determined;
(3) Lost township corners common to four townships shall be reestablished by double proportionate measurement between the nearest existent corners on opposite sides of the lost township corner;
(4) Lost township corners located on standard parallels and common only to two townships shall be reestablished by single proportionate measurement between the nearest existent corners on opposite sides of the lost township corner on the standard parallel;
(5) Lost corners on township exteriors, excluding corners referenced in subdivision (3) of this section, whether they are standard or closing corners, shall be reestablished by single proportionate measurement on the line connecting the next nearest existent standard or closing corner on opposite sides of the lost corner;
(6) A lost interior corner of four sections shall be reestablished by double proportionate measurement;
(7) All lost quarter-section corners on the section boundaries within the township shall be reestablished by single proportionate measurement between the adjoining section corners, after the section corners have been identified or reestablished; and
(8) Where a line has been terminated with a measurement in one direction only, a lost corner shall be reestablished by record bearing and distance, counting from the nearest regular corner, the latter having been duly identified or reestablished.