A-22 - Act respecting land survey

Updated to 1 October 2024

This document has official status.

chapter A-22

Act respecting land survey

1. A land surveyor employed to make any survey in a township shall govern himself by the surveys already made under order of the competent authority. In every surveyed township, the original lines, whether internal or external, which have been run, established or reestablished on the ground, under instructions issued by the competent authority and accepted by it, shall be and remain the true lines of such township, whether they are or are not in conformity with the lines mentioned in said instructions; and every post, boundary mark or monument planted in execution of such instructions by a duly qualified land surveyor is declared to be true, and shall not be removed except by the competent authority; and if any such lines, post, boundary or monument be obliterated, effaced, lost or removed, the reestablishment thereof shall be effected according to sections 2 to 5.

By competent authority is meant Parliament, or the Government, or a court of law.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 83.

2. Whenever it happens that the posts or boundary marks between any lots or ranges of lots have been effaced, removed or lost, the land surveyor may administer the oath to witnesses and examine them for the purpose of ascertaining the former boundaries.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 84.

3. If such former boundaries cannot be ascertained, the land surveyor shall measure the true distance between the nearest undisputed posts, limits or boundaries, and divide such distance into such number of lots as the same space contained in the original survey, giving to each a breadth proportionate to that intended in the original survey as shown on the plan and field notes thereof of record in the office of the Surveyor-General of Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 85; 1979, c. 81, s. 20; 1994, c. 13, s. 15; 2003, c. 8, s. 6; 2006, c. 3, s. 35; 2006, c. 40, s. 5.

4. If any part of any outside line, central line, concession or range line intended in the original survey to be straight has been obliterated or lost, the land surveyor shall then run a straight line between the two nearest points or places where such line can be clearly and satisfactorily ascertained, and shall plant such intermediate posts or boundaries as he may be required to plant in the line so ascertained, and the limits of each lot so ascertained shall be the true limits thereof.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 86.

5. In the case of outside or central lines, the land surveyor must not proceed to reestablish them except under the authorization of the Surveyor-General of Québec, and according to instructions given for that purpose; and, in case such operation is made upon the request of private individuals or of municipalities, the costs may be at the charges of such private individuals or of such municipalities.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 87; 2006, c. 40, s. 6.

6. The Government may, at any time, direct a land surveyor to draw a meridian line wherever it may think proper, or to determine the bearings between certain fixed points and objects, so as to enable a land surveyor thereby to ascertain the variation of the magnetic needle.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 88.

7. The side lines of lots in a township shall be established and traced on the azimuth or bearing of the lines which, in the instructions for the survey of such township, is indicated as governing the side lines in each range which it affects. This guiding line shall be either one of the outside lines of the township or a central line, or some other line, according as the side lines of the lots are shown, on official plans deposited among records of surveys, as lines parallel to one or other of such lines.

This means of establishing the side lines of lots shall be the only one followed in townships surveyed after 25 April 1908 (the date of the coming into force of chapter 61 of the statutes of 1908).

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 89.

8. The side lines of the lots established before 25 April 1908, in accordance with the law in force when they were established, shall be and remain valid.

Moreover when, before the said date, the side lines of one or more lots in a range of a township have been established before any other line, in accordance with the usage followed in some parts of Québec, from a post of one range to the corresponding one in the adjoining range above or below, and such lines have not been revoked by judicial authority, the land surveyor establishing the side lines of such range shall follow the same method of division in running the boundary lines of the lots remaining to be bounded in the same range. Except as aforesaid, the side lines of lots shall be established according to the provisions of section 7.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 90.

9. The subdivision lines of a township shall be drawn in the manner above stated from the posts or division pickets planted or established on the front of each range or concession line.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 91.

10. The front of a range shall be understood to be the lowest range line in the series of numbers designating the several ranges of a township:

Thus the front of the first range of a township is the division line which separates it from the township, seigniory or river upon which it rests;

The front of the second range is the division line between the first and second ranges;

The front of the third range is the division line between the second and the third ranges, and so on.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 92.

11. When, in a township, the front of the first range happens to be a line on which no division posts have been planted, or is formed by the shore of a lake or water course on which there is no such post, the front line referred to is the range line next above the first, and the side lines of the lots shall be traced from the posts planted thereon, or from those which have been lawfully substituted for them on either side, in opposite directions for the first and the second ranges, the front being common to both.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 93.

12. If both on the front and rear lines of any range the entire series of posts marking out the lots have been destroyed, either by lapse of time or by fire or from any other cause, the subdivision of such lots shall be made anew in conformity with sections 2 and following, that is, with the official plan of the original survey, and to the side lines established and drawn from the posts so planted, as above described.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 94.

13. The side lines established as aforesaid, from the posts marking a lot on the front of a range, to the rear line of such range, shall, with the part of such latter line between the side lines and the parts of the front line between the said posts, form the boundaries of such lot.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 95.

14. Any land surveyor who, in any report of inspection or valuation respecting lands in the domain of the State, whether vacant or sold, wilfully leads into error the Surveyor-General of Québec or his representatives, by false information, shall be liable to be struck off the Roll of the Ordre des arpenteurs-géomètres du Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 97; 1973, c. 61, s. 81; 1977, c. 5, s. 229; 1979, c. 81, s. 20; 1987, c. 23, s. 76; 1994, c. 13, s. 15; 1999, c. 40, s. 21; 2003, c. 8, s. 6; 2006, c. 3, s. 35; 2006, c. 40, s. 7.

15. Whereas, in several townships, some of the concession lines or parts of concession lines were not drawn at the time of the original survey performed under competent authority, and the traces or marks of some of these lines have been obliterated, and whereas owing to the want of such lines, the inhabitants of such concessions are subject to serious inconvenience; therefore the council of any local municipality in whose territory such concession is situated may, as heretofore, on application of one-half the resident property-owners in any concession, or even without such application, petition the Government, praying it to cause any such line or part of a line of such concession which has been obliterated, to be surveyed and marked by boundaries under the direction and upon the order of the Surveyor-General of Québec in the manner prescribed by this Act and at the cost of the property-owners of the concession interested.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 105; 1973, c. 61, s. 84; 1979, c. 81, s. 20; 1994, c. 13, s. 15; 1996, c. 2, s. 70; 2003, c. 8, s. 6; 2006, c. 3, s. 35; 2006, c. 40, s. 5.

16. The lines of such concession shall be so drawn as to leave each of the adjacent concessions of a depth proportionate to that intended in the original survey.

The line so surveyed and marked shall be thereafter the permanent boundary lines of such concession, to all intents and purposes.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 106.

17. The council shall cause to be laid before them an estimate of the sum required to defray the expenses to be incurred, in order that the same may be levied on the said property-owners in proportion to the quantity of land held by them respectively in such concession.

The manner of levying such amount shall be the same as that authorized by law for any other purpose.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 107.

18. The expenses of such surveys shall be paid, on the certificate and order of the Surveyor-General of Québec, by the clerk-treasurer or treasurer of the local municipality, to the persons who have rendered such services.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 108; 1979, c. 81, s. 20; 1994, c. 13, s. 15; 1996, c. 2, s. 71; 2003, c. 8, s. 6; 2006, c. 3, s. 35; 2006, c. 40, s. 5; 2021, c. 31, s. 132.

19. Every council of a local municipality that adopts a resolution, on application of one-half the property-owners resident in the territory of the municipality who are to be affected thereby, that it is desirable to place boundary markers at the front or at the rear, or at the front and rear angles of the lots in any concession or part of a concession or range situated in the territory of the municipality, may make application to the Government in the manner prescribed by sections 15 and following, praying it to cause a survey of such concession or range to be made and such boundaries to be planted under the authority of the Surveyor-General of Québec.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 109; 1973, c. 61, s. 85; 1974, c. 65, s. 49; 1979, c. 81, s. 20; 1994, c. 13, s. 15; 1996, c. 2, s. 72; 2003, c. 8, s. 6; 2006, c. 3, s. 35; 2006, c. 40, s. 5.

20. The boundary marks so planted shall be in conformity with the standards enacted by the regulations of the board of directors of the Ordre des arpenteurs-géomètres du Québec, and be planted, by those employed in the survey, in front or in rear or at the front and rear angles of each lot; and the limits of each lot so ascertained and marked are deemed to be the true limits thereof.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 110; 1973, c. 61, s. 86; 1977, c. 5, s. 229; 1999, c. 40, s. 21; 2008, c. 11, s. 212.

21. The costs of survey shall be defrayed in the manner prescribed in section 18.

R. S. 1964, c. 263, s. 111.

22. (This section ceased to have effect on 17 April 1987).

1982, c. 21, s. 1; U. K., 1982, c. 11, Sch. B, Part I, s. 33.

REPEAL SCHEDULE

In accordance with section 17 of the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes (chapter R-3), chapter 263 of the Revised Statutes, 1964, in force on 31 December 1977, is repealed effective from the coming into force of chapter A-22 of the Revised Statutes.