ABSTRACT
The most common meaning of plat is a surveyor's scaled drawing of a parcel of land showing described title or other boundary lines, related lines such as building setback and easement lines, dimensional information, monumentation, relationship to adjoining properties, and explanatory notes. Gradual additions of land affecting only one property would simply be enjoyed by that riparian owner, the legal boundary having shifted with the change. The function of the licensed land surveyor in boundary retracement is to locate deed lines. Boundary retracement principles are a collection of principles which derive primarily from the common law related to boundaries and surveys of boundaries. Some of the original purposes conceived for State Plane Coordinates (SPC) were as a means to describe the location of land boundary corners. A model law was drafted by the originators of the system which was used by many states for legislation legalizing the use of SPC in land surveys.
