PS Legal & Ethical Considerations in Surveying 3

Question 1

A surveyor uses a client's confidential property information to purchase adjacent land before the survey is completed. This action violates which ethical principle?

Accepted Answer

Conflict of interest and confidentiality

Answer

Using confidential client information for personal gain constitutes a conflict of interest and breach of confidentiality, core violations of professional ethics codes.

Question 2

Under the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), the term 'senior corner' refers to:

Accepted Answer

A corner established during an earlier, controlling government survey

Answer

Senior corners are those established in earlier government surveys and are controlling — they cannot be moved by later resurveys.

Question 3

Which doctrine holds that a grantor cannot convey greater title than they possess?

Accepted Answer

Nemo dat quod non habet

Answer

Nemo dat quod non habet ('one cannot give what one does not have') is the foundational property law rule limiting conveyances to title actually held.

Question 4

A prescriptive easement differs from adverse possession primarily because:

Accepted Answer

Prescriptive easements grant a use right, not fee title to the land

Answer

A prescriptive easement gives the claimant only the right to use the land in the manner exercised during the prescriptive period, not ownership of the fee.

Question 5

In most states, a professional surveyor's liability for survey errors is subject to a statute of repose that begins running:

Accepted Answer

Upon substantial completion or delivery of the survey

Answer

Statutes of repose for professional services typically run from the date of substantial completion or delivery, unlike statutes of limitations that run from discovery.

(PS) Professional Licensed Surveyor Practice Test

(PS) Professional Licensed Surveyor Practice Test

PS Legal & Ethical Considerations in Surveying 3