Land Surveyors Dictionary

L Terms

             LA.  – Louisiana.
             LA MER (Land Status Records)  – Louisiana Meridian.
             LAT (Land Status Records)  – Latitude.
             LCR  – Lower Colorado River.
             LD (Land Status Records)  -  Interior Land Decisions.
             LH (Land Status Records)  – Light House.
             LIC (Land Status Records)  – License.
             LM  – See UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT.
             LO (Land Status Records)  – Land Office.
             LOC (Land Status Records)  – Location.
             LONG (Land Status Records)  – Longitude.
             L&R  – Division of Lands and Recreation. 
             LS  – Land Surveyor – if followed by a number it indicated the land surveyor’s registration number.
             LS (Land Status Records)  – Lieu selection.
             LSBL (Land Status Records ) – Leaseable.
             LSE (Land Status Records)  – Lease.
             LTR (Land Status Records)  – Letter.
             LU (Land Status Records)  – Land Utilization.
             LACHES   –(pronounced as door latches) Failure to do something which should be done or to claim or enforce a right at
               a proper time.
             LAKES, MEANDERED     – From 1851 until the issuance of the Manual of Surveying Instructions, 1973, all lakes of the
               area of 25 acres or more were meandered. Now, all lakes of the area of 50 acres and upwards are meandered.
               Exceptions to this rule include artificial lakes and reservoirs (unless the instructions specifically provide for their
               meandering) and shallow or poorly defined  “lakes”  which are actually pools that collect due to permafrost and lack
               of drainage, or which are desert playas. See PLAYA AND PERMAFROST.
             LAMBERT CONFORMAL CONIC MAP PROJECTION            – A map plotting system in which points on the ellipsoid
               are mathematically projected onto a cone with its axis identical with the polar axis. The cone surface may be tangent
               to the ellipsoid or it may cut below the surface (secant) creating two parallels where the scale is exact. The secant
               form of this projection is the basis of State Plane Coordinate Systems where the zone extends more east-west than
               north-south.
             LAND CLAIM    – See PRIVATE LAND CLAIM and DONATION LAND CLAIM.
             LAND COURT    – A tribunal established for the purpose of administering legislative statutes relating to land boundaries
               and titles. There are Land Courts in California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
               North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
             LAND DECISIONS   – Decisions of the Department of the Interior relating to the Public lands. The decisions made
               prior to June 30, 1932 are published in volumes 1 thru 52 and are referred to as  “Land Decisions”  and cited as
               “L.D.’s, thus, 47 L.D. 10.”  See INTERIOR DECISIONS and BOARD OF LAND APPEALS.
             LAND DEPARTMENT      – The generalized term adopted in legal literature to denote the Secretary of the Interior, the
               Commissioner of the General Land Office, and currently (1973) the Director of the Bureau of Land Management,
               and their predecessors, together with subordinate officials, when acting in their capacity as administrators of the
               public-land laws.
             LAND DISTRICT   – the area administered by a particular land office. The act of may 10, 1800, provided for the
               creation of the first four land districts in  “The territory northwest of the Ohio and above the mouth of the Kentucky
               River,”   as follows:
             DISTRICT                                           L A N D  O F F I C E
             Land below the Little Miami …………………..      Cincinnati
             Land east of the Scioto …………………………         Chillicothe
             Land east of the sixteenth range of townships ….    Marietta
             Other land………………………………………..                Steubenville
               As the public land surveys spread, new land districts were created. As the disposition of the public lands progressed
               and the work in a land district lessened, the land districts were abolished. A provision of the Act of July 31, 1876,
               abolished the land districts in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. This was about the same time as the creation of new land
               districts in Utah, Washington and Wyoming (43 U.S.C.A., sec. 121, Historical Note). See LAND OFFICE, LAND
               OFFICES (BLM) and DISTRICT OFFICES (BLM).
             LAND LINE ADJUSTMENT*.
             LANDMARK     – 1) Any monument or material mark or fixed object used to designate the location of a land boundary
               on the ground. 2) Any prominent object on land which can be used in determining a location or a direction. 3) A
               landmark decision; a judicial decision considered a turning point or highpoint of the era.
             LAND OFFICE   – A Government office, subordinate to the General Land Office. These offices were established in
               various parts of the United States for the transaction of local business relating to the survey, location, settlement,
               pre-emption and sale of the public lands. The brisk and extensive business in these offices gave a new phrase to our
               language –  “a land-office business.”   See  LAND DEPARTMENT, LAND DISTRICT, GENERAL LAND
               OFFICE.
             LAND OFFICE STATUS PLAT     – The triplicate plat of a survey used to be referred to as the  status plat.”   It was the
               companion record, in graphic form, to the tract book. These records together constituted, prior to the beginning of
               the Records Improvement Program in 1955, the records required in accordance with 43 C.F.R. 1813.1-1. To protct
               the plats from continual wear and damage and to preserve the information they contain, a system was developed
               whereby the old status plats are microfilmed before they are retired to a Federal Records Center. Through BLM’s
               Records Improvement Project, new records were developed. See MASTER TITLE PLAT, USE PLAT,
               HISTORICAL INDEX and TRACT BOOK.
             LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785     – See ORDINANCE OF MAY 20, 1785.
             LAND REGISTRATION (Torrens system)   – See TORRENS REGISTRATION SYSTEM.
             LANDS OPEN TO MINERAL LOCATION        – Lands held by the United States for disposal under the land laws are
               open to mineral location. Land specifically withdrawn, such as national parks, national monuments, military
               reservations and Indian lands are not subject to location. Minerals found within a national forest are subject to
               location provided the discovery is such that it would justify an ordinary prudent person his expenditure of time and
               effort in developing a paying mine. Without the existence of commercial value, mineral claims within a national
               forest are not valid locations. Lands such as the beds of navigable bodies of water and land between high and low-
               water mark are not subject to location under the Federal mining laws. See also STATES EXEMPT FROM
               FEDERAL MINING LAW.
             LANDS SUBJECT TO SURVEY      – In accordance with legal requirements, the public domain lands of the United
               States that have not yet been surveyed under the system of rectangular surveys are subject to survey. It is a well
               settled principle of law that the United States, through the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land management,
               has the authority and duty to extend the public land surveys as may be necessary. Lands erroneously omitted from
               earlier surveys are, for example, subject to survey.
             LAND STATUS RECORDS      – Those records maintained by the Bureau of Land management, showing ownership of
               the public lands and the availability of the lands for use under the public land laws. The land status records include
               the Master Title Plat, Supplemental Master Title Plat, Use Plat, Historical Index, Control Document Index,
               Miscellaneous Document Index, Serial Register, Mineral Location and Contest Index, Tract Books, Plat Books,
               Patents, Deeds Name Index Card File, and the Working and Reference Records.
             LAND SURVEYING     – The practice of land surveying includes surveying of areas for their correct determination and
               description and for conveyancing, or for the establishment or reestablishment of land boundaries and the plotting of
               lands and subdivisions thereof. See CADASTRAL SURVEY.
             LASER*.
             LATERAL BOUNDARIES      – Side boundaries; boundaries between adjacent states extending from shore to their
               seaward boundaries under Public law 31; boundaries between adjacent nations through the marginal sea and the
               contiguous zones.
             LATITUDE   – 1) The distance on the earth’s surface, north or south of the Equator, expressed in either linear or angular
               measurements. 2) The north-south component of a traverse course. See GEODETIC LATITUDE* and
               ASTRONOMIC LATITUDE*.
             LEAGUE   – A marine measure of distance. In different times and countries it has varied from 2.4 miles to 4.6 miles.
               See MARINE LEAGUE*.
             LEASABLE MINERALS     – Oil and gas; oil shale; coal; potash; phosphate; sodium; sulphur in Louisiana and New
               Mexico; gold, silver, and quicksilver in certain private land claims; and silica deposits in certain parts of Nevada.
               See MINERAL LEASE and PLACER Law of 1897.
             LEASE  – 1) A contract granting possession or control of real property for a determined period. 2) Tahe act of granting
               the lease. 3) The act of the lessee in taking the lease.
             LEASE MAP   – Former name for the Outer Continental Shelf Official Protraction Diagrams.
             LEDGE   – In mining law, and in popular usage in the Western States, it is synonymous with  “lode”  and  “vein.”  See
               LODE.
             LEFT BANK (River)  – The bank on the left-hand side of a stream or river as one faces downstream. See RIGHT
               BANK (River).
             LEGAL DESCRIPTION     – A written statement recognized by law as to the definite location of a tract of land by
               reference to a survey, recorded map or adjoining property.
             LEGAL SUBDIVISION    – The subdivision of a township, such as a section, half-section, quarter-section, quarter-
               quarter or sixteenth-section, or lotting, including the lot, section, township and range numbers and the description of
               the principal meridian to which referred, all according to the approved township plat. See SUBDIVISION,
               SMALLEST LEGAL; ALIQUOT PARTS and MINOR SUBDIVISIONS.
             LEGEND  – A description, explanation or table of symbols printed on a map or chart to permit a better understanding or
               interpretation of it.
             LETTER “E”  – Under a General Land Office system of paperwork classification, Letter  “E”  documents originated to
               the Washington Office and referred to engineering functions.
             LEVEL*.
             LEVEE  – An embankment alongside a river to prevent high water from flooding bordering lands.
             LIEU LANDS   – Former public lands within specified limits (Indemnity Limits) which were granted instead of (in lieu
               of) areas intended to be granted but which were already patented or otherwise not available. See INDEMNITY
               LIMITS, PLACE LANDS and LIEU SELECTION.
             LIEU SELECTION    – An application to acquire title to public lands in exchange for which the applicant relinquishes
               his rights or title to other lands which he, for some reason, cannot or does not wish to acquire or hold.
             LIMITED DEPENDENT RESURVEY        – A dependent resurvey limited to a certain portion of a township.
             LIMITING BOUNDARY     – The boundary of lands actually surveyed.
               The term is usually used to describe a particular boundary in special cases. For example: a fictitious or grossly
               erroneous meander line may be held to be a fixed and  “limiting boundary”  of the lands actually surveyed; the
               exterior boundaries of an area to be independently resurveyed may be termed the  “limiting boundary”  of that project
               area. See OUTBOUNDARIES and FIXED BOUNDARY.
             LINE, RANDOM    – See RANDOM LINE.
             LINE TREE  – A tree intersected by a surveyed line, reported in the field notes of the survey, and marked with two
               hacks or notches cut on each of the sides facing the line. Originally, these trees were called  “station trees,”  and they
               are sometimes called  “sight trees,”  but since the line intersects them, the term  “line tree”  is preferred.
             LINE TREES, Ownership of  – Trees whose trunks are wholly upon the land of one owner belong exclusively to him.
               Trees whose trunks stand partly on the land of two or more abutting owners belong to them in common.
             LINK  – a unit of linear measure, one hundredth of a chain and equivalent to 7.92 inches (0.66 foot). See CHAIN.
             LIQUIDATED DAMAGES      – An assessment of monetary charges determined in advance by contractual agreement as
               compensation for some breach of a contract.
             LITTORAL   – From the Latin  “litus.”  Of or pertaining to the shore, especially of the sea. A coastal region.
             LITTORAL CURRENTS (T.R. No. 4  ) – The nearshore currents primarily due to wave action, e.g. longshore currents
               and rip currents.
             LITTORAL DRIFT (T.R. No. 4)  – The material moved in the littoral zone under the influence of waves and currents.
             LITTORAL OWNER     – One who owns land abutting a sea or ocean where the tide regularly rises and falls. In
               common usage, the word  “riparian”  is often used instead of littoral to include seashore boundaries as well as inland
               water boundaries.
             LIVERY OF SEISIN   – The appropriate ceremony, at common law, for transferring the possession of lands or
               tenements by a grantor to his grantee. This method of transfer is now replaced by granting of deeds and by
               Recording Statutes.
             LOBE*.
             LOCAL CORNER    – Physical evidence accepted by local land owners to be at a corner of the public lands survey; a
               local point of control.
             LOCAL POINT OF CONTROL      – See LOCAL CORNER.
             LOCATION   – In mining, the perfecting of a right to possession of a mining claim for mining purposes. This includes
               the staking of the claim, sinking a discovery shaft, discovery of a valuable mineral, posting a notice of location and
               recording the claim. In a broad sense there are 4 types of location: lode or vein, placer, tunnel and mill site. In a
               secondary meaning, a location is the mining claim covered by an act of appropriate or location. Also See MINING
               CLAIM, LODE CLAIM, PLACER CLAIM, MILL-SITE ENTRY and LOCATION NOTICE.
             LOCATION CORNER      – a term applied to a position determined and marked by the locator (claimant) to distinctly
               and clearly define the boundaries of a mining claim on the ground, so that it can be readily identified.
             LOCATION MONUMENT       – See UNITED STATES LOCATION MONUMENT.
             LOCATION NOTICE     – In mining, a public notice of location of a mining claim. The object of the notice is to inform
               the public. It must be filed and posted on the ground according to the laws of the state where located. Usually it sets
               forth the name of the locator, the date, the name of the claim, and a tie to a corner of the public land surveys. The
               essential requirement of a location notice, however, is that it must so describe and identify the location that it can be
               found by anyone interested in doing so, and that the boundaries may be readily traced on the ground. See
               LOCATION.
             LOCATION SURVEY*.
             LODE  – Mineralized rock lying within boundaries clearly separating it from the neighboring rock and extending
               longitudinally in a continuous zone or belt. In mining law, and in popular usage in the Western States, it is
               synonymous with  “ledge”  and  “vein.”  See MINERAL SURVEY.
             LODE CLAIM    – a mining claim embracing public lands which contain minerals occurring in a vein or lode. See
               MINERAL SURVEY and PLACER CLAIM.
             LONGITUDE    – The distance on the earth’s surface, east or west of a defined meridian, usually the meridian
              Greenwich (0  Longitude), expressed in either angular measure, such as 90  West Longitude, or in time, such as 6
               hours West of Greenwich. See WASHINGTON MERIDIAN.
             LOST CORNER    – A corner whose position cannot be determined, beyond reasonable doubt, either from traces of the
               original marks or from acceptable evidence or testimony that bears on the original position, and whose location can
               be restored only by reference to one or more interdependent corners.
             LOT  – A subdivision of a section which is not described as an aliquot part of the section, but which is designated by
               number, e.g., LOT 2. A lot may be regular or irregular in shape and its acreage varies from that of regular
               subdivisions. The term  “Government Lot”  is commonly used by persons outside the Bureau of Land Management in
               referring to such a subdivision of a section.  “Lot”  is also the name given individual parcels of recorded subdivisions
               of private tracts. See TOWN LOT, TRACT and URBAN SUBDIVISION.
             LOU ISIANA MERIDIAN   – The principal meridian governing surveys in the greater part of Louisiana; it was adopted
               in 1807.
             LOUISIANA PURCHASE     – The territory purchased from France in 1803. It was the earliest acquisition by the United
               States of territory claimed by a European power. It resulted in the acquisition of more than 500 million acres of
               public lands west of the Mississippi River.
             LOUISIANA SWAMP LAND ACT OF 1849       – The Act of March 2, 1849 (9 Stat. 352), granted to the State of
               Louisiana all the swamp and overflowed lands within the limits of the State for the purpose of aiding in the
               reclamation of said lands. See SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1850 and SWAMP LANDS ACT OF 1860.
             LOW-WATER MARK      – The stage to which a river or other inland body of water recedes, under ordinary conditions,
               as its lowest stage or elevation. Low-water mark should not be used in reference to tidal waters. See MEAN LOW
               WATER and HIGH-WATER MARK.
             LOXODROME     – See RHUMB LINE*.
             LUDLOW’S MERIDIAN     – See FIRST PRINCIPAL MERIDIAN.