California Surveyors Forums

Ted Madson has a publication out on California property law. Have any of you read it? Any thoughts on this publication or on Ted Madson's ideology with respect to surveying?

I have listen to his tapes. My take is he's an attorney that has a surveyors license. His ideology is along the lines of Procedures and Evidence for Boundary Control.

I have his "LSS Elementary Surveying Law" tape set as well, and really like those tapes and the associated workbook, and have known many surveyors over the years who have successfully used those tapes to cross the exam's threshold.

I purchased "Madson on California Real Property Boundary Law" in 2008.
It is published letter sized and bound in a three ring binder (which I like).
Forty-three Chapters, 1103 pages, about fifty cited cases are included together with all the code sections you would expect, and maybe some others as well.

While I like this collection, my main concern is that it's not authoritative, so if researching a point using this resource, I've always got to get confirmation of the position from something like Cal. Jur., Clark, or even Brown's.

Timeliness is another issue, the copyright date on the publication is 1985, so it would seem overdue for an update. Sounds like a good side job for you Evan!

The price of $150 plus shipping, is reasonable.

Brown notes in BCLP section 4.12 "Researching the Laws", last paragraph,
"Many state surveying organizations have published 'digests of surveying laws'. These publications cover many areas that surveyors are interested in for their states. Many of theses were prepared by committees or groups of surveyors who paid for the 'privilege' of doing so. Before these publications are relied on by surveyors or attorneys, they should be examined for their depth of research and their timeliness. These publications can be a valuable asset to any surveyor's library."

His listing of experience (I saw it either on his website or on LinkedIn yesterday), indicates that your take is exactly right. He was counsel for some company for several years prior to going into surveying. Just the reverse order of many others who are both.

So did you think his tapes a worthwhile investment. I was looking into his collection and commentary on CA law, and it is about the same as Clark on Boundaries in terms of price. I was just wondering if his commentary is in line with the CA courts and if his coverage of the law justifies the cost.


Edit: "Sounds like a good side job for you Evan!" Gee, thanks Tom. I'll do it in all my spare time. Oh wait, I already used next year's allotment of spare time last month.

You're review was what I was looking for. I can handle the 1985 date. Online research for recent cases and authorities is pretty easy. I guess I will put that next on my list of publications to get.

But you'll enjoy it.

I've known Ted since 1983 when I first attended one of his legal workshops. I stayed in occasional touch with him until about 1987-88 and see him posting on POB's forum every once in awhile. He looks for and enjoys the controversial topics because he likes to rile the audience and thinks that's when the best thoughts come out from everyone. I always came away from his seminars with more knowledge than I went in with. I remember several land surveyors walking out of his seminar(s) in Arizona due to a difference of opinion.

During the early to mid 80's he would organize a week long seminar that concentrated on very intensive legal research for long days in the local law library. He did this in several states and the attendees were credited in the opening pages of the subsequent published book.

I knew most of the land surveyors that contributed to the Colorado book and if I recall correctly spent about $1,000 for that seminar, maybe more back then.

E_Page wrote:Ted Madson has a publication out on California property law. Have any of you read it? Any thoughts on this publication or on Ted Madson's ideology with respect to surveying?

His Texas book is based on case law research by Texas surveyors who did all of his research for him.

This one probably follows the same format, only using California surveyors.

I'm reviewing a borrowed copy over the next couple of weeks. That is the same format. Lots of statutory and case law research with discussion built around it.

The CA surveyors who provided the research are recognized at the beginning of the book.

From what I've seen so far, it seems to be very broad in subject matter and very comprehensive with statutory and case law upon which the discussion is built.