The difficult task of boundary retracement begins with three substantial steps: recovering land records, determining the significance of those records, and applying the findings to conditions on the ground. Interpreting Land Records thoroughly details everything surveyors need to know to formulate sound, defendable opinions, including how courts interpret ambiguous words and conflicts between words in documents, and between those words and items outside the documents.

Packed with illustrative case examples accompanied by descriptions of how a retracement was performed, what the problems were, and how the surveyor resolved them, Interpreting Land Records features:
* Practical information on records research
* Surveying methods used in the United States over the past several hundred years--including the English system, Napoleonic Code, Mexican and Spanish land grant systems, and more
* Two appendices providing definitions for historical words and phrases as well as how to interpret them
* Guidance for confirming a land record with physical evidence on-site
* Advice on using historic maps, photographs, and written documents in establishing a boundary for which official records are lost or corrupted