Glossary
Back to DeedSketchGovernment lot
A government lot is a parcel from the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) that could not be drawn as a regular 40-acre aliquot part — usually because of a lake, river, state line, or survey correction. It is identified by a lot number within a section, such as "Government Lot 3, Section 7," and its acreage varies.
Also called: gov lot · fractional lot
Where they come from
The PLSS divides land into six-mile-square townships, then into 36 one-mile-square sections, then into halves and quarters (the "aliquot parts"). Where a section meets water or a boundary, the leftover fractional pieces could not be clean quarter-quarters, so the original government survey numbered them as lots.
The acreage of a government lot is not implied by its name — Government Lot 2 might be 18 acres or 60. You have to look it up in the original survey or the plat.
Why DeedSketch flags them
A government-lot description is an aliquot/PLSS reference, not a list of bearings and distances, so there is no perimeter to plot from the words alone. DeedSketch is built for metes-and-bounds courses; government-lot, section-grid, and other aliquot descriptions are outside its reliable range and are flagged rather than guessed.
Related terms
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