Metes and bounds is a legal method of land description that defines a parcel's boundary by directions, distances, and physical monuments, traced as a sequence of courses from a fixed point of beginning around the perimeter and back to that same point, so the description closes on itself. It predates grid surveying.
How Metes and Bounds Works
A metes and bounds description is built from a chain of calls, each stating a course and a distance from one corner to the next. The surveyor starts at the point of beginning, follows every call around the parcel, and returns to that same point to close the traverse. Metes are the measured lines and bounds are the features that frame them.
A course is the direction of a line, and a distance is its length in a known unit such as feet or chains, per Encyclopaedia Britannica. Courses are written as quadrant bearings, for example N 45 degrees 30 minutes E, and older deeds use the surveyor's chain of 66 feet. Monuments anchor those calls to the ground: a monument is a physical marker such as an iron pin, a road centerline, or a river that fixes a corner. When a call and its monument disagree, the monument generally controls, because a marker on site is stronger evidence than a number that may hold a transcription error.
The point of beginning, or POB, is the anchor of the whole description, and the perimeter must return to it. If a metes and bounds description does not return to its point of beginning, it does not close, and a survey that does not close describes no definite parcel at all. Surveyors check this with a closure ratio, commonly held to a precision such as 1 part in 10,000 for urban work.
Why Metes and Bounds Matters
Metes and bounds matters because it is the description a title examiner, surveyor, and court all rely on to locate a boundary, and its accuracy decides whether adjoining parcels leave gaps, overlap, or fail to close. A call that references a tree since removed, or a bearing tied to magnetic north from a century ago, can put two deeds in conflict over the same strip of ground.
Unsystematic descriptions carry measurable cost. A study by economists Gary Libecap and Dean Lueck, comparing adjacent Ohio lands, found the rectangular survey produced fewer boundary disputes and higher land values than the metes and bounds tracts next to them. For an operator, an ambiguous call is a title exception waiting to surface: it can delay a closing, force a corrective survey, or become a claim the title policy carves out.
Example
A metes and bounds description is best read as a closed loop of calls that returns to its point of beginning. The traverse below describes a rectangular parcel starting at an iron pin on a road right of way.
Call | Course | Distance | To |
|---|---|---|---|
POB | -- | -- | Iron pin at road right of way |
1 | N 00 degrees 00 minutes E | 200.00 ft | Iron pin |
2 | N 90 degrees 00 minutes E | 300.00 ft | Iron pin |
3 | S 00 degrees 00 minutes E | 200.00 ft | Iron pin |
4 | S 90 degrees 00 minutes W | 300.00 ft | Point of beginning |
The four calls trace north, east, south, then west, and Call 4 lands back on the POB, so the traverse closes. The enclosed area is 200.00 ft times 300.00 ft, or 60,000 square feet. Dividing by 43,560 square feet per acre gives 60,000 / 43,560 = 1.377 acres. A reader can reproduce every corner and the acreage from the calls alone, the test of a sound description.
Variations and Edge Cases
Metes and bounds is not the only way to describe land, and it behaves differently by monument type, jurisdiction, and the era of the original survey. The table below shows where descriptions diverge and where they get confused.
Variant | Treatment |
|---|---|
Natural monument calls | Rivers, ridgelines, and trees move or vanish, so the call can drift from the original line |
Magnetic vs true bearings | Older deeds tie courses to magnetic north, which requires declination correction to plot today |
PLSS rectangular survey | Grid of townships, ranges, and sections measured from 37 principal meridians in the contiguous United States, per the Bureau of Land Management |
Lot and block | A lot number referencing a recorded subdivision plat, common in developed subdivisions |
Strip or gore | A gap or overlap between two descriptions that do not agree at a shared boundary |
The rectangular grid came from the Land Ordinance of 1785, which set up the Public Land Survey System to sell federal land west of the original states. Metes and bounds still dominates the original thirteen states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and the Spanish and Mexican land grants, while most of the West uses the PLSS grid.
Metes and Bounds vs Lot and Block
Metes and bounds is often confused with lot and block, and the two are different ways to describe the same land. Metes and bounds defines a parcel from scratch by running courses, distances, and monuments around its perimeter. Lot and block identifies a parcel by its number on a recorded subdivision plat, where a surveyor already laid out and filed the boundaries.
Attribute | Metes and Bounds | Lot and Block |
|---|---|---|
How the parcel is defined | Directions, distances, monuments from a POB | A lot number on a recorded plat |
Where it is common | Rural land, original colonies, irregular tracts | Platted subdivisions and developments |
Reading difficulty | High, must trace every call | Low, reference the plat |
Dispute exposure | Higher, depends on monuments and closure | Lower, plat fixes the lines |
Lot and block is shorthand that points to a plat; metes and bounds is the full geometric description. A subdivision plat is itself built on metes and bounds work, so the two are layered rather than opposed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is metes and bounds in real estate? Metes and bounds is a legal land description that defines a parcel by directions, distances, and physical monuments, traced as courses from a point of beginning around the boundary and back to that same point. It is the oldest land description method and predates grid surveying.
What is the point of beginning in a metes and bounds description? The point of beginning, or POB, is the fixed starting corner of the description, usually a monument such as an iron pin or a road intersection. Every metes and bounds description must run its courses around the parcel and return to the POB, or the description does not close.
Where is metes and bounds used instead of the rectangular survey? Metes and bounds is used mainly in the original thirteen states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and the Spanish and Mexican land grants. Most land west of those areas is described by the Public Land Survey System, the rectangular grid established by the Land Ordinance of 1785.