Compendium Of Louisiana and Federal Laws Relating to Land ...

1 1080563-1 Compendium Of Louisiana and Federal Laws Relating to Land Surveying Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board 9643 Brookline Avenue, Suite 121 Baton Rouge, LA 70809-1433 Phone: (225) 925-6291 Fax: (225) 925-6292 2020 2020 - ii - INTRODUCTION The practice of land surveying has become more complex over the years and its importance in Louisiana much greater as land values have increased and the development of oil, gas and other natural resources has become such a large factor in the state s economy. This situation has made it imperative that professional land surveyors be required to have more ability and judgment than formerly.

2 The Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board has responded to the need for more capability on the part of persons it authorizes to perform land surveying by increasing the scope of the examinations it gives to applicants, particularly to ensure that a professional land surveyor will have some elementary knowledge of our state s property and land laws as well as technical proficiency in the profession. This publication was prepared in order to fulfill the need for a compilation of the elementary laws governing land surveys and land surveying in Louisiana . It is not intended to provide enough information and education to make a lawyer out of a land surveyor; rather, its purpose is to guide the applicant in studying for licensure examinations and the professional land surveyor in the field and the drafting room in making and plotting surveys.

3 Annotations and summaries of decided cases have not been made a part of this Compendium . Nevertheless, such annotated codes and statutes as the Louisiana Civil Code, the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure, the Louisiana Revised Statutes, and United States Code should be of significant value to an applicant or a professional land surveyor interested in obtaining additional information. This publication is a summary of the laws in effect on January 1, 2020. All laws are subject to revision each year. Some laws may be repealed by the Legislature or the Congress. There is no guarantee that the laws or Board rules excerpted herein will remain in effect for any period of time.

4 Therefore, it is incumbent upon all practitioners to verify the current status of a law or Board rule before relying thereon. Except as otherwise stated, the present tense includes the past and future tense; the future tense includes the present tense; the masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter, and the neuter includes the masculine and feminine; the singular tense includes the plural and the plural tense includes the singular. - iii - SUMMARY OF CONTENTS I. Louisiana Civil Code ..1 II. Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure ..39 III. Louisiana Revised Statutes ..43 IV. Federal Laws Pertaining to Surveying - Excerpts from the United States Code.

5 113 V. Rules of the Board ..144 NOTE: La. 37:681-703 (Licensure Law) and LAC Title 46, Part LXI (Board Rules) may be obtained separately and are also posted on the Board s website at The Licensure Law and the Board Rules are considered to be a part of this Compendium as though printed herein. - iv - TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Louisiana CIVIL CODE ..1 Art. 1. Sources of law ..1 Art. 2. Art. 3. Custom ..1 Art. 4. Absence of legislation or custom ..1 Art. 5. Ignorance of law ..1 Art. 6. Retroactivity of laws ..1 Art. 7. Laws for the preservation of the public Art. 8. Repeal of laws ..1 Art. 9. Clear and unambiguous law.

6 1 Art. 10. Language susceptible of different Art. 11. Meaning of words ..2 Art. 12. Ambiguous words ..2 Art. 13. Laws on the same subject matter ..2 Art. 14. Multistate cases ..2 Art. 448. Division of things ..2 Art. 449. Common things ..2 Art. 450. Public Art. 451. Seashore ..3 Art. 452. Public things and common things subject to public use ..3 Art. 453. Private things ..3 Art. 455. Private things subject to public use ..3 Art. 456. Banks of navigable rivers or streams ..3 Art. 457. Roads; public or private ..3 Art. 458. Works obstructing the public use ..3 Art. 461. Corporeals and incorporeals.

7 3 Art. 462. Tracts of land ..4 Art. 463. Component parts of tracts of land ..4 Art. 464. Buildings and standing timber as separate immovables ..4 Art. 465. Things incorporated into an immovable ..4 Art. 466. Component parts of a building or other construction ..4 Art. 467. Immovables by declaration ..4 Art. 469. Transfer or encumbrance of immovable ..4 Art. 470. Incorporeal Art. 476. Rights in things ..5 Art. 477. Ownership; content ..5 Art. 480. Co-ownership ..5 Art. 481. Ownership and possession distinguished ..5 Art. 482. Accession ..5 Art. 490. Accession above and below the surface.

8 5 - v - Art. 496. Constructions by possessor in good Art. 497. Constructions by bad faith possessor ..6 Art. 499. Alluvion and dereliction ..6 Art. 500. Shore of the sea or of a lake ..6 Art. 501. Division of alluvion ..6 Art. 502. Sudden action of waters ..6 Art. 503. Island formed by river opening a new channel ..7 Art. 504. Ownership of abandoned bed when river changes course ..7 Art. 505. Islands and sandbars in navigable rivers ..7 Art. 506. Ownership of beds of nonnavigable rivers or streams ..7 Art. 517. Voluntary transfer of ownership of an immovable ..7 Art. 533. Kinds of servitudes.

9 7 Art. 534. Personal servitude ..7 Art. 646. Predial servitude; definition ..7 Art. 647. Benefit to dominant estate ..8 Art. 648. Contiguity or proximity of the estates ..8 Art. 650. Inseparability of servitude ..8 Art. 651. Obligations of the owner of the servient estate ..8 Art. 652. Indivisibility of servitude ..8 Art. 653. Division of advantages ..8 Art. 654. Kinds of predial servitudes ..9 Art. 655. Natural drainage ..9 Art. 656. Obligations of the owners ..9 Art. 657. Estate bordering on running water ..9 Art. 658. Estate through which water runs ..9 Art. 663. Projections over boundary.

10 9 Art. 665. Legal public servitudes ..9 Art. 666. River road; substitution if destroyed or impassable ..9 Art. 670. Encroaching building ..10 Art. 672. Other legal servitudes ..10 Art. 673. Common wall servitude ..10 Art. 674. Contribution by neighbor ..10 Art. 675. Presumption of common wall ..10 Art. 676. Adjoining wall ..10 Art. 684. Enclosures ..10 Art. 685. Common fences ..10 Art. 686. Common ditches ..11 Art. 687. Trees, bushes, and plants on the boundary ..11 Art. 688. Branches or roots of trees, bushes, or plants on neighboring property ..11 Art. 689. Enclosed estate; right of passage.