What type of legal description uses fixed monuments and landmarks?

The correct answer is the description that uses fixed monuments and landmarks, which is the metes and bounds legal description. Metes and bounds is a system for describing land that involves using physical landmarks and distances to delineate property boundaries. This method relies on natural or artificial markers, known as monuments, such as trees, rivers, roads, or stones, and specifies distances (metes) and directions (bounds) to provide a precise representation of the property.

This system is particularly useful in areas where the lot and block system or rectangular survey system may not be effective, typically in irregularly shaped parcels of land or where property descriptions need to take into account natural features. By defining boundaries in this way, it allows for a clear understanding of the property’s edges based on identifiable, physical attributes of the landscape.

Other systems, such as the government survey, lot and block, or rectangular survey, utilize different methods of description. The government survey, for instance, relies on a grid system defined by principal meridians and base lines, while the lot and block method refers to registered subdivisions that use a plat map to identify specific parcels. The rectangular survey employs a systematic approach based on sections and townships. However, none of these systems specifically utilize fixed monuments