MCA Chapter 27

in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-1 Oath and bond of office.

There shall be elected for each county a surveyor who shall take and subscribe the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution and give bond, with sufficient surety, to be payable, conditioned and approved as provided by law and in the same manner as other county officials, in a penalty not less than Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00). From and after January 1, 1984, such surveyor shall be a registered land surveyor as provided for in Sections 73-13-71 through 73-13-99. However, this requirement shall not apply to any person who was holding the office of county surveyor by either election or appointment on December 31, 1983.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-3 General duties.

It shall be the duty of the surveyor faithfully to execute all orders of survey directed to him by any court, and to make all surveys of land within his county, at the request of the owners or proprietors thereof, and to do whatsoever in the surveying, resurveying, measuring, and dividing of land that may be required of him by any person.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-5 Record of surveys.

Each county surveyor shall record, in a suitable book to be provided by the board of supervisors and to be kept in the office of the clerk of the chancery court, all surveys made by him and his deputies, except such as are made for a temporary purpose, and surveys of roads and of city, village, or town plats. He shall record the survey of any other surveyor which shall be made in his county by order of a court. The course and distance of all lines run and the number of acres contained in each piece of land surveyed shall be entered on the diagram of any section subdivided according to the survey thereof, and shall be considered a part of the record. The record shall show, in addition, the time when, by whom, and for whom such survey was made, a description of all the witness trees or monuments marked on the survey, with their respective bearings and distances, and the variation of the magnetic from the true meridian. He shall cause a true map or plat thereof to be made, of the form and size indicated in this chapter in regard to maps or plats of cities, towns or villages, or additions thereto, so far as may be applicable. The surveys made by him and the surveys made by any other surveyors as herein referred to shall be recorded in the same manner as provided herein for the record of maps or plats of cities, towns, or villages, or additions thereto. He shall keep the record accurately indexed, referring in a suitable manner to each survey or map or plat so recorded. The lines and distances of all surveys shall be in miles, or subdivisions thereof, yards, feet and inches.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-7 Appointment of deputies.

The county surveyor may appoint deputies by writing, who shall take the oath of office and give bond as required of the surveyor, and who shall thereupon be authorized to perform all the duties of the surveyor.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-9 Swearing the chain-bearers.

The surveyor shall administer an oath or affirmation to the chain-carriers to faithfully and diligently perform their duties without fear, favor, affection or partiality. The surveyor shall write the name of each of the chain-carriers on his plat, or on the certificate of survey, and he is authorized to administer all oaths which may be necessary in the prosecution or completion of any survey.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-11 Surveyor may enter premises without consent in certain cases.

In the execution of an order of survey directed to him by any court, the surveyor and his assistants may, without the consent of the occupant or claimant of ownership, enter upon any lands ordered to be surveyed and to survey the same in an orderly and proper manner. Any person who shall obstruct him or his assistants therein shall be punished as for a contempt of court.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-13 Resurveying, re-marking and bounding lands and county boundary lines.

The surveyor, whenever called on for that purpose by those interested, shall resurvey and re-mark and bound any tract of land in his county where the old marks are defaced or are likely to decay and perish, being governed by the original surveys, patents, or title deeds of such tracts. He shall make a certificate of all such re-markings and boundaries, and deliver the same to the owner of the land, who may have it recorded in the office of the chancery clerk of the county or counties in which the land is situated. The surveyor, whenever requested by the board of supervisors of any county, shall resurvey, re-mark and bound any county boundary line, being governed by the original governmental surveys, field notes, and patents. The notes of such resurvey and the certificate thereof shall be recorded in the office of the chancery clerk of such county, and shall be presumptive evidence of the facts connected with and pertinent to the resurvey therein contained in any case in which the venue is in question.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-15 Reestablishing original marks.

It shall be the duty of the surveyor, in all resurveys and re-markings, to perpetuate the original corners he may work from by noting new bearing trees, and otherwise, as may be convenient and useful. They shall also perpetuate the principal corners made by themselves in the same way.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-17 How survey ordered for execution of judicial sales.

In all cases where a survey of land may be necessary to the proper designation of parcels, in order to comply with the requirements of Section 111 of the Constitution, it shall be caused to be made by the person whose duty it is to make the sale, and the proper cost thereof shall be allowed in the bill of cost.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-19 Making of survey when surveyor interested.

Whenever a survey may be required of any land in which the county surveyor may be interested, or whenever from any cause there shall be no surveyor deputy to be found, or able to act, the survey may be made by the surveyor of any other convenient county, and a court may in any case so order, or the survey may be made by such person of skill as the parties interested may agree upon.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-21 Maps and plats; making thereof.

Whenever any city, town, or village, or addition thereto, shall be laid out, the proprietor thereof shall cause a true map or plat thereof to be made by a civil engineer, surveyor, or other competent person.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-23 Maps and plats; form.

Such map or plat shall in every case be made on a scale not less than two hundred feet to an inch, on sheets of good muslin-backed paper, eighteen inches by twenty-four inches in size. There shall be written upon the paper upon which said map or plat shall be made a full and detailed description of the land embraced in the map or plat, showing the township and range in which such land is situated, and the sections and parts of sections platted. It shall show on its face in plain letters the name of the city, town, or village, or addition platted, the name of the proprietor, and all of them, and of the engineer, surveyor, or other person making the map or plat, with the date. The same shall be signed by the proprietor and surveyor, and shall be acknowledged as deeds are acknowledged. The sections and parts of sections platted shall also be designated by lines drawn upon said map or plat, with appropriate letters and figures, and it shall contain a plain designation of the cardinal points of the compass, and a correct scale.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-25 Maps and plats; contents.

Every such map or plat shall particularly set forth and describe such portion of the government survey as is intended to be platted, and when the premises cannot be accurately described by legal subdivisions, then the boundaries thereof must be defined by metes, bounds, and courses. Such map or plat shall also specify and describe all the public grounds, except streets and alleys, by their boundaries, courses, and extent, and all streets and alleys by their courses, length, widths, names, or numbers, by writing or figures upon that portion of the map or plat intended for those uses. All the lots intended for sale may be numbered either by progressive numbers, or, if in blocks, progressively numbered in each block, and the blocks progressively numbered or lettered. Where all the lots in any block are of the same dimensions, it shall be sufficient to mark the precise length and width upon one tier thereof, but all gores, triangles, or other lots, either squares or parallelograms, shall have the length of their sides plainly defined by figures.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-27 Maps and plats; recording.

Such map or plat shall be recorded in the office of the clerk of the chancery court of the county or counties where the land lies, and in the following manner. The proprietor shall cause to be made, by a competent person, on the same scale and on paper of the same size and quality as that on which the map or plat is required to be made, an exact duplicate of said map or plat, with the detailed description, and signed and acknowledged as the original is required to be. The said map or plat and the said duplicate shall be delivered to the clerk of the chancery court, who shall carefully examine the same, and, if he find that in any respect it fails to conform to the requirements of Sections 19-27-23, 19-27-25, he shall point out the deficiency to the person so presenting it, and return it to such person for correction. When such map or plat shall conform, or shall be made to conform, to the requirements of law, the clerk and the engineer, surveyor, or other person who made the same, shall carefully compare the duplicate with the map or plat, and, if correct, or when made correct, it shall be certified by the clerk and the engineer, surveyor, or other maker, stating therein that they have carefully compared the same with the map or plat (describing it), and that it is an exact duplicate thereof, and of the whole of such map or plat. The clerk shall then securely fasten the said duplicate in a book of the proper size for such paper, so that it shall not be folded, which book shall be securely bound and provided at the costs of the county, after the first map or plat is so presented. Such duplicate so fastened in said book shall be held and taken to be a record of the map or plat, with like effect as if the map or plat had been actually transcribed by the clerk in a book in his office. The clerk shall certify on the map or plat and note on the duplicate the time when it was recorded, and make a reference on the map to the book and page where recorded. The lines and distances of all such maps or plats shall be in yards, feet, and inches.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-29 Maps and plats; penalty for selling lots before recording.

If any person shall sell any lot or lots within any such city, town, or village, or addition thereto, before the plat or map thereof shall be recorded, he shall be liable to an action, to be brought for the use of the county, for Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00). The clerk of the chancery court shall institute the action upon the presentation to him for record of any deed to lots in any such city, town, or village, or addition thereto.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-31 Maps and plats; alteration and vacation.

If the owner of any land which shall have been laid off, mapped, or platted as a city, town or village, or addition thereto, or subdivision thereof, or other platted area, whether inside or outside a municipality, shall be desirous of altering or vacating such map or plat, or any part thereof, he may, under oath, petition the chancery court for relief in the premises, setting forth the particular circumstances of the case and giving an accurate description of the property, the map or plat of which is to be vacated, or altered, and the names of the persons to be adversely affected thereby, or directly interested therein. The parties so named shall be made defendants thereto, and publication of summons shall be made one time in a newspaper published, or having a general circulation, in the county where the land is situated, and which publication shall clearly state the objects and purposes of the petition. At any time after the expiration of five days from said publication and the service of process upon the named defendants, the cause or proceeding shall be triable, and the court in term time or the chancellor in vacation may hear the petition and all objections from any person thereto, and may decree according to the merits of the case. However, where all adversely affected or directly interested persons join in said petition, the same may be finally heard and determined by the court or chancellor at any time. If the decree vacate, in whole or in part, or alter the map or plat, it shall be recorded as a deed, and a memorandum thereof noted on the record of the map or plat.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-33 Establishing true meridian.

The board of supervisors may employ some skilled person to establish at or near the courthouse a line not exceeding twenty chains in length, corresponding with the true meridian of the place, and simultaneously determine to within one-half of one second of an arc the geographical longitude of the station occupied by the instrument used in the operation. After the line has been established, the board of supervisors may appoint a competent person to make annual observations at such time as may be determined, to ascertain the declination of the magnetic meridian from the true meridian, and when any alteration is ascertained, the person making the observation shall report the particulars to the board of supervisors, and the same shall be entered on its minutes.

Miss. Code Ann. § 19-27-35 Surveyors to adjust instruments annually.

The county surveyor shall annually adjust any instrument used by him in making surveys after checking said instrument with the line of the true meridian established under Section 19-27-33, or with the line of the true meridian established within said county by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, or a division designated by the survey, or with the line of the true meridian established by the Mississippi State Highway Department in the district in which the property to be surveyed is located. A surveyor shall not be allowed to certify or testify to the correctness of a survey thereafter made unless the instrument used in making it had been corrected and adjusted within twelve months next before the survey.