PLSO The Oregon Surveyor Sept/Oct 2019

8 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 42, No. 5 Featured Article Key Elements of Land Surveyor Education from the Realm of Case Law The Sweet Sixteen A t the 2019 OACES Conference, held in Hood River, 30 county sur- veyors from all around Oregon, who were in attendance were asked to fill out a form, individually ranking the importance of the several land rights topics which appear in The Land Survey- or’s Guide to the Supreme Court of Oregon - Volume One - 1848 to 1892 . After be- ing provided with an explanation of the historical significance of the principal topics addressed by the Court during the relevant time period, which are covered in Volume One, the attendees were given an hour to cogitate upon the importance of knowledge regard- ing each of those topics on the part of land surveyors. Each participant then completed and submitted a form, spec- ifying which topic was most important to land surveyor education focused on historical land rights adjudication in his view, and numbering the remaining top- ics in descending order. The results of this evaluation of the most historically controversial sectors of Oregon case law, within the realm of land rights, are presented here, for contemplation by interested readers. The Land Surveyor’s Guide to the Supreme Court of Oregon Volume One—1848 through 1892: Building the Foundation of Our Law. A Reference Text Supporting the Continuing Education of Land Surveyors The 30 County Surveyors in attendance at the OACES Conference were asked to rank each of the 16 topics listed be- low in order of their importance to our profession: 1. Monumentation (understanding what kinds of objects can represent a boundary monument, and recognizing the capacity of such objects to control boundary locations) 2. Deed Interpretation and Validity (understanding how and why any given deed may be subject to judicial negation, for a broad range of reasons, including numerical discrepancies therein) 3. Plats (including issues stemming from both the creation or the use of both publicly and privately produced plats) 4. Easement and Right-of-Way Issues (including dedication and vacation of streets, roads, alleys or other public corridors, and the formation of undocumented public and private servitudes) 5. Legal Description Interpretation and Validity (understanding how descriptive terminology is judicially evaluated and construed, and what factors govern judicial acceptance and rejection of legal descriptions) 6. Original Surveys (recognizing the legal force and effect of original surveys and field notes, and distinguishing such evidence from that derived by means of subsequent surveys) 7. Equitable Principles in the Boundary Context (understanding the operation and power of equitable factors in the realm of judicial boundary control) 8. Resurveys (understanding the role of subsequent surveys in boundary determination and recognizing the factors which can result in judicial acceptance or rejection of such surveys) 9. Interaction of Public & Private Land Rights (includes all scenarios in which public and private rights at either the fee or easement level stand in competition and must be judicially balanced) 10. Equitable Principles in the Title Context (understanding the operation of principles of equity which can either support or negate deeds, conveyances, and other title documentation) 11. Riparian Boundary and Title Issues (covers all issues associated with water boundaries, including both the legal and equitable factors which can either support or negate ambulatory boundaries and the status of title in the bedland context) 12. Legal Description Reformation (understanding the role of intent in legal description analysis and recognizing the factors which can legally nullify, or result in judicial alteration of, an otherwise adequate legal description) 13. Grantor-Grantee Relationship (understanding the distinct legal and equitable obligations