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The Measurement of Real Estate

By
Managing Real Estate Broker with Keller Williams Northland

Remember those things you had to learn to get your license, but probably have not used since. We know the grief caused by legal descriptions. They have to be precise, and no deviations is permited. Legal descriptions are contained in most of our documentation: Mortgage, survey, deed, title policy, contract (PIN is usually sufficient though). They all must be EXACT. How were these accurate measurements in real estate created?

The INCH first represented the width of a man's thumb, but it was standardized in classic Rome as one-twelfth of a foot. In 1305 Edward I of England defined the yard of three 12-inch feet and decreed that the inch should be equal to three grains of dry barley laid end-to-end. The barleycorn unit of measurement is still used by shoemakers.

It is said that in the 16th century King Henry VIII used his thumb to define the yard. According to tradition, Henry fixed the yard as the distance from the tip of his nose to the tip of his thumb at the end of his outstretched arm.

The foot, as its name suggests, was once the distance from the heel to the tip of the big toe. It too was standarized in ancient Egypt as 2/3 of a short (6-palms) cubit. It came to be used to measure an acre, thanks againt to Edward I. Before Edward's time an acre was the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. But since this would vary, Edward pegged an acre at 40 rods by 4 rods. Each rod being 16.5 feet long. A measurement that has survived unchanged to this day.

Now aren't you happier. You are going to knock them dead at the next cocktail party. 

 

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