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The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a method used in the United States to locate and identify land, particularly for titles and deeds of farm or rural land. The system is in use in all states except the first 13, Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii. The system has been in general use since the Land Ordinance of 1785. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system.1 History of the system
The system was created by the Land Ordinance of 1785. It has been expanded and slightly modified but continues in use in most of the States west of Pennsylvania, west to the Pacific Ocean and north into the Arctic.
1.1 Origins of the system
The original colonies (including their derivatives Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia) continued the British system of metes and bounds. This system describes property lines based on what meets the eye, and bounds drawn by humans. A typical, yet simple, description under this system might read "From the point on the north bank of Muddy Creek one mile above the junction of Muddy and Indian Creeks, north for 400 yards, then northwest to the large standing rock, west to the large oak tree, south to Muddy Creek, then down the center of the creek to the starting point."
Particularly in New EnglandThis article is about the region in the United States of America. For other uses, see New England (disambiguation . The New England region of the United States is located in the northeastern corner of the country. Boston is its business and cultural cente, this system was supplemented by drawing up townA town is usually an urban area which is not considered to rank as a city. As with cities, there is no standard universal definition of a town: the criterion in use in any country is likely to arise from national law, custom or administrative convenience. platA plat is a map, drawn to scale, showing how a piece of land is divided into lots with streets and alleys, usually for the purpose of selling the described lots. After a plat is filed, legal descriptions can refer to lot numbers rather than portions of ses. The metes-and-bounds system was used to describe a town of a generally rectangular shape, 4 to 6 miles (6 to 10 km) on a side. Within this boundary, a map or plat was maintained that showed all the individual lots or properties.
There are some difficulties with this system:
- Irregular shapes for properties make for much more complex descriptions.
- Over time, these descriptions become problematic as trees die or streams move by erosion.
- It isn't useful for the large, newly surveyed tracts of land being opened in the west, which were being sold sight unseen to investors.
In addition this system didn't work until there were already people on the ground to maintain records. In the 1783Events February 3 American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence. February 4 American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America. May 18 Saint John, New Brun Treaty of ParisThe Treaty of Paris of 1783 signed on September 3, 1783, formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and her North American Colonies. Great Britain signed ancillary treaties with France and Spain as the Treaties of V recognizing the United States, Britain also recognized American rights to the land south of the Great LakesThe Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States- Canadian border. They are the largest group of fresh water lakes in the world, and the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system is the largest fresh-water system in the world. They are s and west to the Mississippi RiverThis page is about the river in the United States; for other uses, see Mississippi River (disambiguation). The Mississippi River is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. Taken t.
The Continental CongressThe Continental Congress was the federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States from 1774 to 1789, a period that included the American Revolutionary War and the Articles of Confederation. There were two Continental Congresses. passed the Land Ordinance of 1785 and then the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to control the survey, sale, and settling of the new lands.
