Cartography Word of the Day: Metes and Bounds

An old system of property line survey, brought over from England

We focus again on a term of surveying. and this is important because, of course, surveys and legal descriptions of land have in the past formed a basis for an a reference to the compilation of maps for the general public’s use.

Since 1785, the law of the land dictated the use of the Public Lands Survey System–that grid system of townships, ranges, meridians, and baselines–for the legal survey of the lands of the United States. Before this, the system for legal establishement of property lines was the Metes and Bounds system imported from England by the colonists and used from tradition.

This system depended on local landmarks, distances, and directions. The term derives from the use of measurements (metes) for straight lines and descriptions of physical objects (bounds) used where necessary and/or convenient, such as roads or rivercourses. An example of metes and bound specification can be seen here:

This description forms the center of a deed issued in Mercer County Kentucky in 1810, and associated information can be viewed in full by going to this page, part of a genealogy resource site.

Drawbacks to the System

The main problem with metes and bounds should be obvious, that of the landscape–and the landmarks upon–changing over time. While practical property lines can be established though knowledge and tradtional use, streams can dry up, trees can die, and roads can be moved or fall into disuetude.

There is the problem of measurement systems changing over time. The unit of the “pole”, which is the only measurment mentioned in the above description, was widely used in that day but today is virutally unknown (a pole, as it turns out, is 16.5 feet–and is also known as a ‘rod’). The only measurement a civil surveyor today might recognize is the compass bearings: “south 30 west”, for instance, means face south, then turn 30 degrees to the west.

A Matter of Heritage

Despite its drawbacks, though, the metes and bounds system still provides the legal basis for real property description in the eastern part of the United States–those areas in the east (and the south) that used it extensively before 1785.