This forum, the Brown books and Jeff Lucas are interesting discussion and knowledge forums but they are National in nature and shouldn't be used for the specifics of any given State.
My young colleague and I visited the Sacramento Public Law Library (a 15 minute walk from our office) because we want to get our legal information from the horse's mouth, so to speak. It's all right there, available to everyone, not just Attorneys, and written in plain English. The Legal Profession is nothing if not well organized. They have all the primary sources in book form and many secondary sources too. They also have a powerful West Law computer subscription available for public use. Although we are not Attorneys I find I am not blinded because I looked into the legal domain. That is because obedience and operation of the law is for everyone, not just Attorneys.
My young colleague made a bee line for the Real Estate shelf and found the Miller & Starr California Real Estate 3d (a real estate treatise in 13 volumes) which is a real estate treatise for "lawyers, judges and real estate professionals." (bold by me, quote from Miller Starr Regalia Law Firm's website information about their treatise which they call 'the book'). Meanwhile I browsed the reporters and annotated Statutes. They offer classes on how to do legal research.
The next day I needed a copy of the 1868 California Statute related to Townsites. So I walked down to 9th & N Streets to the California State Library, Witkin Law Collection. It too a few minutes but I found the Statute books that are organized by year. The Witkin collection doesn't seem to be quite as up to date as the County Law Library but they have a lot of old stuff. I pulled down the 1867-1868 Statutes, looked in the Index and voila there it is. I made copies although on further review found that I got the Statute relative to incorporated Cities and not unincorporated Townsites but now that I know where it is and have a Chapter number so that I can find what I need. Witkin does have a current copy of California Jurisprudence 3rd series which is a law encyclopedia (secondary source).
Perhaps .....
the most intelligent comment of the day! Yes, worry about your own state and don't pretend you know what goes on in mine. Most of the time that I comment on legal stuff I preface my ramblings with "in my corner of the world" because that's the way it is.
I know that I am frequently amazed at some of the legal & survey comments that give a clue as to how things are done in your corner of the world. It sure ain't that way in my corner of the world. Those that give know it all, blanket comments are (in my mind) showing that they really don't have a clue.
Perhaps .....
"...the most intelligent comment of the day!"
Those of us that know Dave have come to expect that from him.
His beer advice can be spotty, however.
Don
Perhaps .....
> the most intelligent comment of the day! Yes, worry about your own state and don't pretend you know what goes on in mine. Most of the time that I comment on legal stuff I preface my ramblings with "in my corner of the world" because that's the way it is.
>
> I know that I am frequently amazed at some of the legal & survey comments that give a clue as to how things are done in your corner of the world. It sure ain't that way in my corner of the world. Those that give know it all, blanket comments are (in my mind) showing that they really don't have a clue.
Mr. Ingram,
That is why I look at the 'location' of the posters...when I read your opinions I know 'Virgina'. Hopefully you see Arkansas as my location and don't think 'dang silly Hillbillies'.
DDSM:beer:
Good advice.
Locally, we saved our old 1860's brick jail and now it is the home of the Fifth District Court of Appeals and a great law library open to anyone, even surveyors. Your comment about the state-specific stuff is on point.
If you have easy access to such a law library in your home state, you have a resource which can help you with those pesky boundary topics such as riparian rights and boundaries, railroad easements, ROW's, and a lot more.
Perhaps .....
Well I like bitter beer which isn't for everyone.
I look forward to Sierra Nevada's Hoptimum which they produce once per year. It is 100 on the BU scale (bitterness units).
Dave
You are the Dalai Lama of surveying - wise and peacefully diplomatic.
Check your email
Dave,
I just sent you a copy of the Townsite Act of 1868 (Ch 523, Statutes of 1867-8).
Check your email
Thanks, Evan.
The Legal Profession is very well organized.
I found the Shephard's (sp?) index in there where you can look up a case and see what other cases reference it and whether it is still good law.
The Attorney...
I was enrolled in Part B of a legal research class on Friday (case law) and was telling my former co-worker Nick about it. So he signed up and three Land Surveyors showed up for the class. We had two Attorneys and a couple of other people (the instructor didn't do intros this time).
After the class one of the Attorneys buttonholed my young colleague and started asking him why Land Surveyors need to access the law (he really didn't know). So that lead to the three of us talking to him to where we had to go outside because the Librarian said we were too LOUD.
He said he had a boundary case a number of years ago and couldn't find much on land surveying, it was mostly old stuff. It was interesting.
The library has hand-outs on how to research common topics (such as Landlord-Tenant) and he suggested we do one for Surveyors/Surveys. I think that is a good idea.