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) Save and except. A phrase in a description that excludes a portion from the land otherwise granted or described — "all of Lot 5, save and except the westerly 10 metres." Example: a lot conveyed "save and except" the part earlier taken for a road widening. Application: the surveyor must define the remainder after subtracting the excepted part, and confirm that the excepted parcel closes and does not create a gap or overlap.
(b) Parcel Register. Under the Land Titles system, the official register (the parcel's page, identified by its Property Identifier Number, PIN) that records the registered owner, the property description, and every registered instrument and encumbrance affecting that parcel. Example: the PIN printed record listing the owner, a mortgage, and an easement. Application: it is searched to establish current ownership and interests before a conveyance or survey, and to identify registered easements and restrictions that a survey must locate.
(c) Crown Land Plan. A plan prepared and held by the Crown (the Ministry responsible for Crown lands) depicting Crown land and the original disposition of land granted from the Crown — in effect the original patent/survey record for a tract. Example: an original township or patent plan filed with the Crown Land Registry showing the first survey of the lots. Application: it is a primary source of original survey information and the root of title for lands granted out of the Crown, consulted when retracing very old boundaries or resolving what the Crown originally granted or reserved.
(d) High water mark. The natural boundary of a water body defined by the ordinary high-water mark — the line the water reaches at its ordinary high stage, evidenced on the ground by the limit of vegetation and the change in soil character. Example: the landward edge of the bank of a navigable river. Application: for navigable waters the Crown owns the bed to the high-water mark, so the HWM is the landward limit of Crown ownership and the (ambulatory) water boundary of the riparian parcel; it also fixes the water side of a shore road allowance.
(e) Shore Road Allowance. A strip — commonly one chain (66 ft) — reserved by the Crown in the original survey along the shore of navigable waters, lying between the water (the high-water mark) and the surveyed lots, for public and road purposes. Example: the 66-ft allowance between a cottage lot and the lake. Application: where it survives unclosed it makes the abutting lot non-riparian (it, not the lot, meets the water); it may be closed by the municipality and conveyed to the abutting owner, which then restores direct water frontage.
