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Bar News - February 4, 2005 Opinions: Satellites Highlight Archaic Statutes By: David Brooks This story was initially published in The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H., Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005. We all know that technology has its dark side, but surely no one suspected that something as harmless-looking as global positioning satellites might throttle the most delightful entry on New Hampshire's law books. I refer, of course, to the exquisite "Perambulation of Town Lines," aka RSA 51:2, which states: "The lines between the towns in this state shall be perambulated, and the marks and bounds renewed, once in every 7 years forever, by the selectmen of the towns, or by such persons as they shall in writing appoint for that purpose." Is that wonderful, or what? There cannot be a more incongruous juxtaposition in American jurisprudence than the word "perambulation," redolent of Gilded Age dandies carrying parasols, and the image of civic-minded locals, carpooling from Town Hall after work so they can scramble through hillside brambles to confirm that an ancient stonewall is still in place. Plus, that phrase "once in every 7 years, forever" - why, it's almost biblical in tone. They don't write laws like that anymore! They might even unwrite them, in fact. A proposal (HB 70) would nix the biblical tone by making boundary perambulation voluntary. "It was put in the books when surveying was done by links in the chain, and boundaries were susceptible to being in disagreement," said Robert Rowe, an Amherst state representative who sponsored the proposed change at the behest of Milford selectmen. "There is very little, if ever, a dispute on a boundary . . .. It's a nice folksy thing to do, to wander through the brambles with another town, but it's not necessary anymore." He's right, of course. Darn it. In fact, a similar law about state boundaries with Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts did away with the mandate years ago: It says they "shall be perambulated, and the bounds renewed, whenever necessary." (No mention is made of our boundary with Quebec; apparently we trust Canadians not to shift the markers when we aren't looking.) The problem with perambulation is that technology, and particularly GPS, has rendered it unnecessary. Keeping track of imaginary lines on the ground hardly takes place on the ground anymore - it's largely a function of satellites. Signals go up into space and bounce back down, a little triangulation occurs and, voila, you've pinpointed your location accurately and permanently. Permanent is good. The bane of boundaries is that it's hard to maintain markers on the ground. Property disputes in New Hampshire often occur because of old documents that describe boundaries from, say, an old oak tree (that died years ago) to a stone wall (that was removed when a shopping center was built). Or consider the granite post that marks one corner of my property. It looks impressive, but my fourth-generation-native neighbor, who put it there decades ago, says it was moved by a previous owner during a bit of overly enthusiastic pond building, so I'm not quite sure where the boundary actually lies. Global positioning satellites do away with that. Once you've got the satellite-calculated coordinates down on paper, you're set, unless the Earth moves. That fact has created an entire software and planning industry, called geographic information systems, and is reshaping development and land usage. Maps of things like aquifers, roads, power lines, earthquake faults - whatever you can think of - can now be correlated with great precision, allowing the discovery of previously hidden connections. It's hard to see where perambulating selectmen fit into such a world. To be honest, they hardly do. The number of town officials who actually perambulate a border these days is roughly the same as the number who still do official business in French. This must be one of the least-observed laws in New Hampshire. Which means, alas, there are good, solid reasons to water down RSA 51:2. But what does being right have to do with it, when you're talking about great art? A world without mandatory legal perambulation is a grayer, sadder world. If nothing else, what will we do with all the parasols? Science From the Sidelines appears Wednesdays in The Telegraph. David Brooks can be reached at (603) 594-5831 or at brooksd@telegraph-nh.com. |
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