18-Geom-B5 Survey Law · May 2014
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
National Exams — May 2014 — 04-Geom-B5 Survey Law. Three hours; CLOSED BOOK, NO CALCULATOR. Twelve questions constitute a complete paper (the first twelve as they appear are marked); most answers require sentence-and-paragraph format. All twelve questions are solved in full below. Content is framed in the Canadian common-law and Ontario land-registration context named by the source.
Reference texts: Survey Law in Canada (Canadian Council of Land Surveyors / Carswell, 1989); Brown, Robillard & Wilson, Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles (7th ed., Wiley, 2017); Ontario Land Surveyor educational materials and the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS) Survey Review; the Land Titles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.5, the Registry Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.20, the Surveys Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.30, and the Condominium Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 19; Re Ellenborough Park, [1956] Ch. 131 (C.A.).
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
"Save and except." A clause in a conveyance or description that excludes a described portion from the land otherwise being granted. Example: "all of Lot 5, Concession 3, save and except the westerly 20 metres conveyed to the municipality." Application: the surveyor must survey and describe the excepted part, and the residue (the remainder parcel) is what actually passes — a common source of odd-shaped remnant parcels and gores if the exceptions are not carefully closed.
Navigability. The legal character of a water body that determines ownership of its bed. Definition: a watercourse is navigable in law if it is capable, in its natural state, of being used as a public highway for travel or the transport of goods (in Canada, the practical "floating-logs" test is often applied). Application: if the water is navigable, the bed is vested in the Crown and the private parcel stops at the (ambulatory) high-water mark; if non-navigable, the riparian owner may hold ad medium filum aquae — to the middle thread of the stream. The surveyor must resolve navigability before fixing a water boundary.
Trespass road. A travelled road that does not lie on a legally established road allowance but runs over private land that was never conveyed, dedicated or expropriated for road purposes — typically where early settlers or a municipality built the road around an original allowance that was impassable (a swamp, hill or lake) or where the travelled road simply wanders off the allowance. Example: a township concession road that leaves the original road allowance to skirt a marsh and crosses the adjoining farm lot for 400 m. Application: the travelled road is not automatically private: in Ontario a road on which public money was expended for opening it, or on which statute labour was usually performed, became a public highway under the former Municipal Act (and highways existing on December 31, 2002 are preserved by s. 26 of the Municipal Act, 2001), and dedication and acceptance may also apply. The surveyor must locate both the travelled road and the unused original allowance, show each on the plan, and flag the ownership question — whether the deviated strip is a highway (and so vested in the municipality) or still private land turns on the evidence of public expenditure, statute labour and use, while the untravelled original allowance remains a public road until it is closed by by-law.
"More or less." Words appended to a stated quantity or dimension in a description to signal that the figure is approximate and not warranted. Example: "containing 2.0 hectares, more or less," or "40 metres more or less to the water's edge." Application: the monuments and boundaries control over the stated measurement; the phrase warns the reader (and protects the grantor) that minor discrepancies between the recited quantity and the true extent do not defeat the conveyance — the calls to monuments govern the number.
Riparian property. Land that abuts a natural watercourse (a river or stream), carrying with it riparian rights. Definition: the abutting owner's rights of access to and from the water, the benefit of accretion, and the reasonable use and undiminished natural flow of the water. Application: the boundary is the ambulatory water margin; for a non-navigable stream the owner may hold to the medium filum. (Land abutting a lake or the sea is strictly littoral, with analogous rights.)
Original Plan. The first plan that created the lots — the plan of subdivision of record by which the parcels were laid out and first conveyed. Definition: it embodies the original surveyor's intent and dimensions and is the controlling document of creation. Application: in retracement the surveyor returns to the original plan and its original monuments; later plans and measurements are read in light of it, and the original plan (with its monuments) governs the boundaries it created.
Designation Plan. A plan registered to designate parts of land for concise legal description and reference. Definition: in Ontario practice a reference-type plan divides parcels into numbered "Parts" so that interests can be described by Part number rather than by lengthy metes-and-bounds. Example / application: a "Plan 43R" reference/designation plan lets an easement or a conveyance be described simply as "Part 2 on Plan 43R-XXXX," and is used to designate the specific parcels affected by an instrument — it describes and designates land but does not itself create new title.
