ALONG vs ON

cantuland · 2015-01-13T17:22:00Z

ALONG versus ON. When writing a typical metes and bounds course in a legal description, which is the better word to use to control a bearing, the word ALONG or the word ON? "...thence bearing North 90 degrees East along said line..." or "...thence bearing North 90 degrees East on said line..." Before you jump to an answer, consider the following.When I first started writing legal descriptions, I used ON rather than ALONG. Then, trying to accept professional input, I was told that ALONG is the better word. So, in an attempt to better myself, I switched to using ALONG in place of ON. Lately, however, I am considering switching back.I saw that there was previous discussion comparing ALONG with the word WITH.is not that discussion. I agree, WITH is not the word that I want to use. Using the word ON was not a part of that previous discussion. I am considering that maybe ALONG is not the word I want to use either.Wattles prefers ALONG. I have a copy of Land Survey Descriptions, 10th edition C.1974, by Wattles (with green ink). In Section 900, on page 95, Wattles compares the use of BY, ON, WITH and ALONG. Wattles states that ON is an old form for ALONG and not as satisfactory; better to use "along a line," rather than "by a line" or "on a line" or "with a line." Throughout "Advanced Land Descriptions" by Cuomo and Minnick, another textbook on creating land descriptions, the word ALONG is used extensively to cite the bounding lines that control the bearings. The word ON is never used in that sense.In Writing Legal Descriptions (with purple ink), Wattles discusses ALONG on pages 3.7 and 3.8 (pages 7 and 8 of Section 3) and even recites a court case, but the focus in the court case is the riparian shore. To go ALONG a non-tide water stream presumptively carries title as far into the stream as the grantor possesses. Yes, the riparian rights make sense to me, but that doesn't convince me why ALONG is just an all-around better word making ON an older form.What does it mean if I tell my crew to walk along the fence? What does it mean if I tell my crew to walk on the fence? I picture two different scenarios; my crew is not used to walking on a tight-rope. I can row a boat along the shore/along the bank/along the water's edge and it doesn't mean that I have to follow the thread of the river. Can I row a boat along the river? Sure. Can I row a boat on the river? Sure. Can I row a boat along the bank? Yes, I'll be in the water though and near the bank. Can I row a boat on the bank? Isn't that where you put the boat to keep it from floating away, ON the bank? So if I want to travel along/on/over/under/across a particular line and in a direction defined by the measurement of North 90 degrees East, I think it is better to say that my course will go from one end of the line to the other end by going ON that line rather than ALONG that line. As I travel ON that line, we can travel together as you travel ALONG that line beside me.For the moment, I am still writing "thence North 90 degrees East along that line." Why? Because that's how I was told to do it, and I have habitually doing it that way for so many years that it sounds correct in my head. I see that so many others also do so. Perhaps it is time to break away from the wandering heard and follow the path laid out in front of me.Use ALONG instead of ON...but WHY? I question myself. I would appreciate discussion. What say you?

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vern

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Reminiscent of a certain Arkysawyer

:good: Well said sir!

Posted : January 14, 2015 3:40 pm

holy-cow

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Coincidence or Not a Coincidence

Today's Family Circus comic. Do you think Billy is somehow connected to the Arkysawyer?

Posted : January 14, 2015 10:18 pm

AKsurveyor

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I believe “on” is a better qualifier, and that is what I use. If you call “along” a boundary, you could be 5’ offset and parallel to it and be correct. If you call on a line there is no ambiguity. As you point out if you row a boat along the shore, you are not on it. If you walk on the fence line (I'm talking theoretically, not in reality) than you are “on” it, right? If you walk along the fence, 10 feet off, than you are not on the fence line, right?
I realize that “along” has been more widely used but “on” is unequivocal.

Posted : January 15, 2015 6:41 pm

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ALONG vs ON

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