3 ms·

I wasn't serious, but this is good information. I assume some of that is a holdover from mineral or oil rights being life-and-death.

• Arnt 4y ago
  No, it's about cities, and it's as old as street networks. Suppose your neighbour has a 30×30m corner plot and you build a five-story building 50cm onto your neighbour's plot. The street isn't going to move, so you've just reduced the size of his possible six-story building by about 2%, and 2% of the value of a six-story downtown building is worth a lawsuit.
• wbl 4y ago
  It's the result of how the US handed out land to settlers using survey to hand out square blocks largely sight unseen. However California has grants from the Spanish crown at the root of many of its property deed chains, so the mess will be different.
• lukeschlather 4y ago
  It can still be very life-and-death if your survey says that the natural gas line is half a meter from where it actually is.
  • mbg721 4y ago
    But when they dig it up and it was really half a yard, they're just going to scratch their heads, nobody dies.