Texas Abstract and Survey Legal Descriptions

The parts of a Texas rural legal description

When you read a Texas mineral deed, oil and gas lease, or division order, the legal description identifies the parent survey first and then the specific tract inside it:

Railroad blocks, odd/even sections, and school land

Under the 19th-century Texas railroad land grant acts, a railroad company surveyed blocks of 640-acre sections at its own expense. The odd-numbered sections ($1, 3, 5, \dots$) were patented to the railroad company (or its assignees), and the alternating even-numbered sections ($2, 4, 6, \dots$) were reserved to the State of Texas for the Permanent School Fund.

That history matters on a mineral chain for two reasons:

• Dual grantee names on even sections: An even-numbered school section was surveyed under the railroad certificate, so deeds often cite both the railroad survey name and the individual purchaser to whom the state later sold the section (for example, Section 2, Block A-3, PSL / H&TC RR Co. Survey). Each patented parcel of an even section has its own GLO Abstract Number.
• Relinquishment Act ( Mineral Classified ) lands: On public school lands sold by the State of Texas between September 1, 1895 and August 21, 1931 with a mineral classification, the State reserved the minerals and made the surface owner its leasing agent under the Relinquishment Act (Tex. Nat. Res. Code § 52.171 et seq.). Reading the GLO patent and classification file is the only way to confirm whether a section is mineral classified.

Spanish and Texas land measurements (varas, labors, leagues)

Early Texas patents and metes-and-bounds deeds measure distance in varas rather than feet or chains:

• 1 vara: Standardized in Texas at $33\frac{1}{3}$ inches ($2.7778\text{ feet}$).
• 1900.8 varas: Equals $5,280\text{ feet}$ ($1\text{ mile}$). A standard 640-acre section measures $1900.8\text{ varas}$ on each side.
• 1 labor: $1,000\text{ varas}$ square, containing $1,000,000\text{ square varas}$ ($177.136\text{ acres}$).
• 1 league (sitio): $5,000\text{ varas}$ square, containing $25\text{ labors}$ ($4,428.4\text{ acres}$).

Statute of Frauds and description defects on a runsheet

Under the Texas Statute of Frauds (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 26.01) and the Conveyance Statute (Tex. Prop. Code § 5.021), a deed must furnish within itself, or by reference to another existing writing, the means or data by which the land can be identified with reasonable certainty (Morrow v. Shotwell, 477 S.W.2d 538 (Tex. 1972)). Common description defects flagged on a runsheet include:

• Unlocated acreage ("100 acres out of a larger tract"): A deed that conveys an unlocated number of acres out of a larger tract without metes and bounds is construed in Texas to convey an undivided fractional interest equal to the stated acres divided by the larger tract's acreage, whereas a contract to convey unlocated surface acreage may fail under the Statute of Frauds.
• Omitted block or section number: A nonmaterial clerical error in a recording reference or survey call can be cured under Tex. Prop. Code § 5.028 (Index No. 07), while an omitted tract or changed boundary requires a material correction instrument signed by all parties under § 5.029 (Index No. 08).
• Strips and gores: Narrow strips along roads or boundaries are governed by the strip-and-gore presumption (Strayhorn v. Jones, 300 S.W.2d 623 (Tex. 1957)) and Mother Hubbard clauses (Smith v. Allison, 301 S.W.2d 608 (Tex. 1956)). See Index No. 06.

Sources

1. Texas General Land Office (GLO), Land Grant Search and GIS Viewer. https://s3.glo.texas.gov/glo/history/archives/land-grants/index.cfm
   Original Texas land grants, patents, field notes, and county abstract numbers. Opened October 13, 2026.
2. Tex. Nat. Res. Code ch. 52, subch. F (§ 52.171 et seq., Relinquishment Act). https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/NR/htm/NR.52.htm#52.171
   Relinquishment Act leasing on mineral-classified school lands. Opened October 13, 2026.
3. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 5.021, 5.028, 5.029. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.5.htm#5.028
   Instrument of conveyance and nonmaterial/material correction instruments. Opened October 13, 2026.
4. Morrow v. Shotwell, 477 S.W.2d 538 (Tex. 1972); Smith v. Allison, 301 S.W.2d 608 (Tex. 1956).
   Legal sufficiency of Texas land descriptions and scope of Mother Hubbard clauses. Referenced October 13, 2026.