2021 Colorado Code
Title 38 - Property - Real and Personal
Article 51 - Minimum Standards for Land Surveys and Plats
§ 38-51-103. Procedure for Subdividing Section

1. Whenever a professional land surveyor conducts a survey for the purpose of locating a parcel of land which is described in terms of the nomenclature of the public land survey system, such professional land surveyor shall proceed according to the applicable rules contained in the current “Manual of Instructions for the Survey of the Public Lands of the United States” published by the United States government printing office; except that all monumentation shall conform to section 38-51-104.
2. 1. A section may be subdivided by:
      1. Surveying all necessary aliquot lines in the field; or
      2. Computing the location of the required aliquot corners after making a field survey which includes all required control corners of the section.

   2. Any section subdivided pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) shall include all control corners that were originally monumented by the United States government, which must either be found or restored in the field according to the standards set forth in section 38-51-104.
   3. Monument records shall be filed pursuant to section 38-53-104, describing each such corner.
   4. For any section subdivided pursuant to this subsection (2) the location of original aliquot corners of, and procedures used in, the governing official United States government survey, where applicable, shall take precedence.

History. Source: L. 94: Entire article R&RE, p. 1516, § 47, effective July 1.

This section is similar to former § 38-50-101 , as it existed prior to 1994.

Law reviews. For note, “A Survey of the Colorado Torrens Act”, see 5 Rocky Mt. L. Rev. 149 (1933).

Annotator's note. Since § 38-51-103 is similar to § 38-50-101 as it existed prior to the 1994 repeal and reenactment of articles 50 to 53, a relevant case construing that provision has been included in the annotations to this section.

Excess or deficiency in land divided among grantees. Where a tract of land is subdivided into parts or lots, title to which becomes vested in different persons, none of the grantees are entitled to a preference over the others upon the discovery of an excess of deficiency in the quantity of land contained in the original tract, and the excess or deficiency is then divided among all the lots or parcels in proportion to their areas. Gaines v. City of Sterling, 140 Colo. 63 , 342 P.2d 651 (1959).

This section applies the principle of the single apportionment rule. It has the sanction of the statute, most case law and the bureau of public lands regulations, and it is to be applied without regard to the order of the conveyances by a common grantor. Gaines v. City of Sterling, 140 Colo. 63 , 342 P.2d 651 (1959).

Limitations on application of apportionment rule. Some limitations and exceptions have inevitably grown up to invade the pure application of the apportionment rule, and it is to be applied when the original surveys are made at the same time and so are held to have equal standing. Gaines v. City of Sterling, 140 Colo. 63 , 342 P.2d 651 (1959).