Land Survey Glossary
Definitions for US legal land description terminology — PLSS (townships, ranges, sections, principal meridians) and Texas Survey System (abstracts, blocks, surveys, leagues).
Aliquot Parts
Aliquot parts are the standardized subdivisions of a PLSS section — quarter sections (160 acres), quarter-quarter sections (40 acres), and smaller parcels down to 10 acres — used in legal land descriptions across all 30 PLSS states.
Block and Section (Texas)
In the Texas Survey System, a Block & Section reference identifies a one-square-mile parcel within a named railroad survey grant — the dominant land description convention in West Texas.
Government Lot
A government lot is an irregularly shaped parcel within a PLSS section that cannot be divided into standard quarter sections, typically found along rivers, lakes, and state boundaries.
PLSS Glossary
Definitions for PLSS, township, range, section, quarter section, principal meridian, and all US public land survey terms.
League and Labor
League and labor are Spanish colonial land measurement units used in Texas Survey System descriptions — a league is about 4,428 acres (cattle grants), a labor is about 177 acres (farming grants).
Principal Meridian
A principal meridian is one of 37 north-south reference lines in the US Public Land Survey System, each paired with a baseline to anchor the township and range grid.
Section
A section in the Public Land Survey System is a one-square-mile parcel of land containing 640 acres, numbered 1 through 36 within each township.
Texas Abstract
A Texas abstract is a unique identifier assigned by the Texas General Land Office to an original land grant within a county — the foundation of Texas Survey System legal descriptions.
Texas General Land Office (GLO)
The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is the state agency that administers Texas public lands and maintains the official records that underpin every Texas Survey System legal description.
Texas Railroad Commission (RRC)
The Texas Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas in Texas and uses TXSS legal descriptions for all well locations, drilling permits, and production filings — referenced by survey and abstract, not township and range.
Texas Survey
In the Texas Survey System, a survey is the original land grant tract — named after its grantee or original surveyor. Texas land descriptions reference surveys by name as one of three primary description shapes.
Township
A township in the Public Land Survey System is a 6-by-6-mile square of land containing 36 sections, totaling approximately 23,040 acres.
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