Editing Metes and bounds (section)

== Difficulties ==
Once such a survey is in place, the corners may have to depend on tradition and long use to establish the line along the boundaries between them. In some areas where land was deeded before 1593, the lengths given predate the changes to the length of the furlong and [[mile]] by [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]]. In other places references to the official borders of towns, counties, and states may have changed. Compass directions always have to be tied to a table of annual deflections because [[North Magnetic Pole|magnetic north]] is constantly changing. The description might refer to ''landmarks'' such as the ''large oak tree'' which could disappear; or be confused with a different tree that had grown later. Streams might dry up, meander or change course. Man-made features such as roads, walls, markers or stakes used to mark corners and determine the line of the boundaries between corners may have been moved. As these features move, change and disappear over time, when it comes time to re-establish the corners along the line of these boundaries (for sale, subdivision, or building construction) it can become difficult, even impossible, to determine the original location of the corner. In the metes and bounds system, corners, distance, direction, monuments and bounds are always carried back to the original intent regardless of where they are now. Court cases are sometimes required to settle the matter when it is suspected the corner markers may have been moved.

These kinds of problems caused the United States to largely replace this system except in the east. Beginning with the [[Land Ordinance of 1785]], it began a transition to the [[Public Land Survey System]] (PLSS) used in the central and western states. The eastern, or original states, continue to use the metes and bounds surveys of their founders.