This is from Iowa law. Without using the internet guess the year it was written. I'll post the pdf after some guesses are made. There are other sections providing for surveys authorized by the court when owners will not enter into an agreement as provided in section 1.?ÿ
Section 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That, whenever the owner or owners of adjacent tracts of land shall desire to establish permanently the lines and corners thereof between them, he, she, or they may enter into a written agreement to employ and abide by the survey of some surveyor; and after said survey is completed, a plat thereof with a description of all corners and lines plainly marked and described thereon, together with the written agreement of the parties, shall be recorded in the recorder's office of the county where the lands are situated: or after any survey of lands is completed and the parties interested therein as owners are satisfied with such survey, or when the owners of adjoining lands desire to perpetuate existing lines and corners heretofore made between them, it shall be lawful for them to cause a plat thereof to be made with a description of all such lines and corners made thereon, which plat shall be acknowledged before some officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and signed by each of said owners as an agreement between them so far as relates to such lines and corners; all of which shall be recorded in the recorder's office of the county in which the lands are situated; and the lines and corners so made, and described and recorded, shall be binding upon the parties entering into said agreement and signing said plats, their heirs, successors, and assigns, and shall never be changed.
1868
Close enough - 1874.?ÿ Seems like if we had followed the law guidance, we'd be better off than surveying for one party or the other. I know it's not the standard, but it almost seems unethical to agree to do a survey in any other way than follow the provisions that make a boundary permanent and adds value.?ÿ?ÿ
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Illinois has an identical law, 765 ILCS 215, the Permanent Survey Act. I have used it twice to settle ambiguities. Both situations had several parcels with poor legal descriptions, divided from a parent parcel at different times. The owners all agreed, and their common boundaries are now "permanently" established per the Act.?ÿ
Something similar in NY, but I think called for the Surveyor General to be involved.?ÿ But that position was eliminated (1930's?) because legislature said boundary is a legal matter for the courts.
Nevertheless, we try.?ÿ I was able once to get the parties to agree (I thought).?ÿ Made the map, put the agreement on the map, both parties signed and notarized the map, the map was filed.?ÿ They subsequently fell out again and are still fighting about the land in court last I knew (15 years later).