County surveyor; contract for copies of original federal surveys, payment, binding; records of former surveyors, payment; admissible as evidence.
MCL 54.102
in effect54.102. County surveyor; contract for copies of original federal surveys, payment, binding; records of former surveyors, payment; admissible as evidence.
Sec. 102.
The county surveyor shall contract with the commissioner of the state land office, or with any person having possession of the same, for certified copies of the field notes and plats of the original surveys by the United States, of the lands of his county, and if such contract be approved by the board of supervisors of his county, the county surveyor shall, upon receiving such copies, direct the county clerk to draw an order upon the treasurer of his county for the amount so agreed upon, and transmit it to the said commissioner, or other person to whom it may be due, and shall have said plats and field notes substantially bound in book form, which shall be kept open in the said county surveyor's office for the benefit of the public; and all records of surveys, field notes and calculations made by any former county surveyor since the organization of the state government, and now in the hands of such former county surveyor, or of any other person, shall, on demand of the county surveyor of the proper county, be immediately delivered to him as a part of the records and files of his office, and the boards of supervisors of the several counties shall respectively audit and allow to the persons entitled thereto, such sum as they shall deem a reasonable compensation for the expense of the books containing such records. All such records of surveys, field notes, and calculations made by any former county surveyor, which have been or shall have been on file in the office of either the county surveyor, register of deeds or county clerk for a period of 15 years or upward, even though such records or the certification thereof shall not conform to the requirements specified in section 100 of this act, shall be admissible in evidence of the facts they contain in any court of record in this state.
R.S. 1846, Ch. 14; CL 1857, 450; Am. 1869, Act 140, Eff. July 5, 1869; CL 1871, 592; How. 621; CL 1897, 2624; Am. 1915, Act 196, Eff. Aug. 24, 1915; CL 1915, 2486; CL 1929, 1398; CL 1948, 54.102
[Compiler] The office of commissioner of the state land office, referred to in this section, was abolished and the powers and duties thereof transferred to the public domain commission by MCL 322.221. The public domain commission was subsequently abolished and the powers and duties thereof transferred to the department of conservation by MCL 299.2. The department of conservation was subsequently transferred to the department of natural resources by MCL 16.352.
[Compiler] This section as originally enacted was numbered section 103.
Source: Michigan Legislature (legislature.mi.gov)URL: https://legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-54-102Fetched: 10/20/2026