PS Legal & Ethical Considerations in Surveying 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under the doctrine of adverse possession, which element is NOT typically required for a claimant to establish title?
- Actual, open, and notorious use
- Hostile claim under color of title
- Continuous use for the statutory period
- Written consent of the record owner (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Written consent of the record owner
Adverse possession requires hostile, actual, open, notorious, and continuous use without the owner's permission — written consent would defeat the hostility element.
Question 2: A surveyor discovers that a fence has been in place for 30 years, encroaching 2 feet onto a neighbor's parcel. The surveyor's primary obligation is to:
- Relocate the boundary to match the fence
- Report the encroachment on the plat and inform the client (Correct answer)
- Ignore the fence and only show the deed boundary
- File a quiet title action on behalf of the client
Correct answer: Report the encroachment on the plat and inform the client
The surveyor must report all pertinent findings, including encroachments, on the plat and advise the client — legal determinations of title belong to an attorney.
Question 3: Which type of easement is created by implication when a parcel is landlocked as a result of a conveyance?
- Prescriptive easement
- Easement by necessity (Correct answer)
- Easement appurtenant by grant
- Easement in gross
Correct answer: Easement by necessity
An easement by necessity arises when a conveyance leaves a parcel without legal access to a public road, implying a right-of-way over the grantor's remaining land.
Question 4: The NSPS Model Law for Professional Surveyors typically requires licensure candidates to have which combination?
- Only a passing score on the FS and PS exams without experience
- Education, experience under a licensed surveyor, and passage of licensing exams (Correct answer)
- A law degree and passage of the PS exam only
- 10 years of field experience with no educational requirement
Correct answer: Education, experience under a licensed surveyor, and passage of licensing exams
Model licensing laws require accredited education, supervised professional experience, and passage of both the Fundamentals of Surveying and Principles and Practice of Surveying exams.
Question 5: A riparian landowner's rights along a non-navigable stream generally extend to:
- The low-water mark on the opposite bank
- The centerline (thread) of the stream (Correct answer)
- Only the ordinary high-water mark of the near bank
- The full width of the floodplain
Correct answer: The centerline (thread) of the stream
Under the ad medium filum aquae rule, riparian owners of non-navigable streams own to the thread (centerline) of the stream.
Question 6: When a surveyor is asked to serve as an expert witness, the primary duty of the expert is to:
- Advocate for the client who retained them
- Provide impartial, objective opinion based on professional knowledge (Correct answer)
- Refuse to testify against other licensed surveyors
- Only testify about matters explicitly listed in their license
Correct answer: Provide impartial, objective opinion based on professional knowledge
Expert witnesses must provide impartial and objective testimony based on their professional expertise, regardless of which party retained them.
Question 7: Which principle governs the interpretation of ambiguous deed calls when later-prepared documents conflict with earlier ones?
- Later conveyances supersede earlier conveyances in all cases
- Senior rights prevail over junior rights in conflicting conveyances (Correct answer)
- Junior deeds always take priority when recorded first
- Ambiguity is resolved by the surveyor's professional judgment alone
Correct answer: Senior rights prevail over junior rights in conflicting conveyances
The principle of seniority holds that earlier (senior) conveyances have priority over later (junior) ones when boundaries conflict.
PS Legal & Ethical Considerations in Surveying 2
Under the doctrine of adverse possession, which element is NOT typically required for a claimant to establish title?