18-Geom-B5 Survey Law · May 2016
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
National Exams — May 2016 — 04-Geom-B5 Survey Law. Three hours; CLOSED BOOK, NO CALCULATOR. NINE (9) questions constitute a complete paper; most answers require sentence-and-paragraph format, and clarity and organization are marked. All nine questions (including every lettered sub-part) are solved in full below. Content is framed in the Canadian common-law and Ontario land-registration context named by the source (Surveyor General's Instructions, the Ontario township survey systems, Registry/Land Titles, the Expropriations Act).
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); Association of Ontario Land Surveyors (AOLS) Survey Review and educational materials; the Surveys Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.30, the Registry Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. R.20, the Land Titles Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.5, the Boundaries Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. B.10, and the Expropriations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.26.
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.
A Land Registrar's Compiled Plan is exactly what its name says: a plan compiled by the Land Registrar from the existing record — the registered descriptions, older plans, and instruments already on file — to give a graphic index of the parcels in an area, to assign parcel/lot numbers for administration, and to bring order to a patchwork of metes-and-bounds descriptions. Crucially, it is drawn from documents, not from a fresh field survey.
Because it is only a compilation, an LRCP does not create, alter, or guarantee either title or boundaries. It confers no new rights and takes none away; it does not move a boundary, cure a defect, or settle a dispute. The lot lines it portrays are approximate, carried over from the record with whatever error the record contained, and they must not be relied upon as a survey. Its legitimate uses are administrative and indexing — providing a numbered reference for parcels, aiding searches, and organising the register — and it may serve as a starting point for locating documents. But the true boundary of any parcel shown on an LRCP still has to be established on the ground by a retracement survey, applying the ordinary hierarchy of evidence. A surveyor or purchaser who treats the compiled lines as authoritative boundaries misuses the plan.
