Title 35

(a) For purposes of more precisely defining the Alabama coordinate system, the following definition by the United States coast and geodetic survey is adopted: The Alabama coordinate system, east zone, is a transverse Mercator projection of the Clarke spheroid of 1866, having a ce…

No coordinates based on the Alabama coordinate system, purporting to define the position of a point on a land boundary, shall be presented to be recorded in any public land records or deed records unless such point is within one-half mile of a triangulation or traverse station es…

The use of the term “Alabama coordinate system” on any map, report of survey, or other document shall be limited to coordinates based on the Alabama coordinate system as defined in this article. (Acts 1945, No. 477, p. 708, §7.)

Whenever coordinates based on the Alabama coordinate system are used to describe any tract of land which in the same document is also described by reference to any subdivision, line, or corner of the United States public land surveys, the description by coordinates shall be const…

Nothing contained in this article shall require any purchaser or mortgagee to rely on a description, any part of which depends exclusively upon the Alabama coordinate system. (Acts 1945, No. 477, p. 708, §9.)

There is hereby created, in the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, a division of land surveys, for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, and preserving the land monuments, section corners, and other physical accessories of the United States public land su…

The division of land surveys shall be headed by and be under the direction, supervision, and control of an officer who shall be designated “chief of the division of land surveys.” He shall be appointed by the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources, with the approval o…

Before entering upon the discharge of his duties, the chief of the division of land surveys shall take the constitutional oath of office. His salary shall be fixed by the State Personnel Board as it may deem appropriate or as otherwise fixed by law. He shall devote his full time …

The chief of the division of land surveys shall carry out the routine functions and duties of the division, as prescribed herein. He shall recommend for employment, including their compensation, such assistants, and employees as are required for the performance of the work of the…

The Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources, acting by and through the chief of the division of land surveys, is hereby vested with the following functions, duties, and responsibilities: (1) To restore, maintain and preserve the land survey monuments, section corners, …

There is hereby created an advisory board to the division of land surveys, the membership of which shall consist of five members appointed by the Governor. One member shall be a landowner in the State of Alabama; two shall be registered land surveyors and members of the Alabama s…

Of the five members first appointed to the division of land surveys advisory board, one shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for two years, one for three years, and two for four years. At the expiration of the term of each member, the Governor shall appoint a successor,…

Members of the advisory board, upon induction into office, shall take the customary oath of office to support the Constitution of the United States, and that of Alabama, and to faithfully demean themselves in office. They shall serve without compensation, but each shall be reimbu…

Members of the advisory board shall choose one of its five members as chairman. The board shall meet at least four times a year, and the chairman shall determine the time and place for any special meeting. Regular meetings shall be held as agreed upon by members of the board. (Ac…

The advisory board shall assist the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources and the chief of the division of land surveys in formulating the policies of said division in the performance of its functions and duties and shall advise the Commissioner of Conservation and N…

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, division of land surveys, may acquire in the name of the State of Alabama lands or interests therein, where necessary, to establish permanent monuments, and may lease or purchase or acquire by negotiation land, if necessary, f…

The custody and ownership of the original United States public land survey corners and accessories has never been released or surrendered by the State of Alabama. These survey corners and their accessories are property of the State of Alabama. This includes all restorations and r…

Members of the advisory board, the chief of the division of land surveys or any and all employees of the division shall have the right to enter upon private property for the purpose of making surveys or for searching for, locating, relocating, or remonumenting land monuments, lev…

On request of the chief of the division of land surveys, all probate judges or other recorders of deeds, mortgages, or other instruments dealing with any interest in real property, together with all departments, boards, or agencies of state government, county or city government s…

Every employee of the division of land surveys who is engaged in work required by law to be done by a registered land surveyor will be so registered. No employee of the division shall engage in private land surveying or consultation while so employed by the division. (Acts 1971, …

The division of land surveys may produce, reproduce, and sell maps, plats, reports, studies, and records and shall fix the charge therefor. All income received from the sales shall be promptly deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the “Land Surveys Fund,” which is here…

Whenever the division of land surveys deems it expedient and when funds appropriated permit, the division shall have the power to enter into contracts with agencies of the United States, with agencies of sister states or with private persons, registered land surveyors or professi…

Under no circumstances shall the total amount of warrants issued by the Comptroller in payment of the expense and compensation provided for in this article exceed the amount provided therefor by the Legislature in the general appropriation or other appropriation bills. (Acts 1971…

This article shall not be construed as to authorize or require the division of land surveys to survey or resurvey the entire State of Alabama. However, the division may perform such surveys as it may, from time to time, deem necessary to fulfill the purposes of this article. (Act…

Any person, or his administrator, executor or guardian, desiring to subdivide his lands into lots shall cause the same to be surveyed by a competent surveyor, if not already surveyed, and shall cause a plat or map thereof to be made, showing the subdivisions into which it is prop…

(a) The plat or map having been completed shall be certified by the surveyor, which certificate must also be signed by the owner, his duly authorized agent or attorney, executor, administrator, or guardian and acknowledged by such owner, agent, or attorney, in the same manner in …

It shall be the duty of every probate judge in this state to decline to receive for record in his office any map or plat upon which any lands lying within the corporate limits or police jurisdiction of any city of this state having a population of more than 10,000 inhabitants are…

Any plat or map, whether or not executed and recorded as provided in this article, may be vacated by the owner, his executor, administrator, or guardian of the lands at any time before the sale of any lot therein by a written instrument declaring the same to be vacated, executed,…

Any street or alley shown by any map, plat, or survey, whether such map or plat is executed and recorded as provided by law or not, may be vacated, in whole or in part, by the owner or owners of the lands abutting the street or alley (or that portion of the street or alley desire…

Every change in location, or vacation, or attempted vacation of any road, street, avenue, or alley, or any part thereof, by the owner or owners of lands abutting thereon, or upon which such road, street, avenue, or alley is located, when such vacation, or attempted vacation, or c…

Where land has been divided into lots, and the map or plat thereof mutilated, lost, or mislaid, and a part or all of the lots indicated therein have been sold, the owner thereof may cause a new survey to be made and a plat or map to be made therefrom, or reproduce the one mutilat…

When a map or plat or part thereof is vacated, the judge of probate, upon recording such vacation, shall do one of the following: (1) Where the most recent record is only a tangible map or plat, write in plain letters across the record of the map or plat, or the part so vacated, …

The circuit courts of this state shall have jurisdiction and power to vacate and annul any map, plat, or survey of lands, or any streets, alleys, avenues, or roads, whether designated by any such maps, plats, or surveys or not, upon the filing of a civil action by any person or p…

The proceedings for vacating and annulling such maps, plats, surveys, roads, streets, or alleys shall be conducted in all respects as civil actions are conducted and the circuit court may prescribe all rules and regulations for the conduct of such proceedings which are not incons…

If the final judgment or order of the court provides that any map, plat, survey, road, street, or alley shall be vacated or annulled in whole or in part, the petition or complaint, together with the final order or judgment of the court, shall be recorded in the office or offices …

The party filing such petition, complaint, order, or judgment for recording and registration shall pay the recording or registration officer a fee of $.15 per 100 words for so recording or registering such documents in such office. (Code 1923, §10368; Code 1940, T. 56, §24.)

The remedies provided in this article for vacating maps, plats, surveys, streets, alleys, etc., shall not be held to be exclusive, but alternative or cumulative. (Code 1923, §10369; Code 1940, T. 56, §25.)

In order to facilitate acquirement of easements by watershed associations, water conservancy associations or districts and any other lawful entity engaged in water and soil conservation work, the probate judges of the several counties of the State of Alabama shall receive and rec…

Before being recorded, all such photographs or maps must have been presented to the county engineer of the county where the land area represented is located. Upon his being satisfied as to the purpose of the recording of such map or photograph and as to the information inscribed …

This article is cumulative. (Acts 1966, Ex. Sess., No. 415, p. 560, §3.)