Metes and bounds

Metes and bounds is a method of describing a parcel of land by walking its perimeter in words: a sequence of courses, each giving a direction (bearing) and a length (distance), starting at a point of beginning and returning to it. "Metes" are the measured directions and distances; "bounds" are the physical or record boundaries called for along the way, like a creek, a road, or an adjoiner's line.

Metes and bounds descriptions appear in deeds and title commitments, especially east of the Public Land Survey System states and for irregular parcels anywhere. They contrast with lot-and-block descriptions, which describe land by reference to a recorded plat ("Lot 4, Block 2 of Sunrise Acres"), and with aliquot-part descriptions of PLSS sections.

Because each course depends on the one before it, a single misread bearing or transposed distance shifts everything after it - which is why plotting the description and checking closure is the standard first test of whether a description is internally consistent.

Related: Metes and bounds to linework