Opinion ID: 1926677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Legal Description

Text: Plaintiffs' third contention is that the Oxmoor Annexation is void because of alleged inaccuracies in the legal description attached to the Annexation Resolution and later published in The Birmingham Post-Herald. This legal description is a lengthy, metes and bounds designation of approximately 25 miles of boundary line circumscribing approximately 3,570 acres of property. The Court has evaluated the testimony of two expert witnesses concerning this point, one called by plaintiffs, Mr. James Gay, and one called by defendant, Professor Dan Turner, a registered engineer and land surveyor and member of the faculty of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Each witness reviewed the legal description and noted certain ambiguities, each of which was discussed in some detail. Substantial accuracy (not perfection) is all that is required in an annexation description. See generally State v. City of Birmingham, 167 Ala. 651, 52 So. 461 (1910). [5] At trial Professor Turner concluded that the legal description of the Oxmoor Area was sufficient and valid and was capable of being staked and located on the ground in a survey. The Court agrees and concludes that the legal description is accurate, valid and capable of location on the ground, with closure. Plaintiffs also argue, in connection with this point, that the legal description is complicated and could not be understood by a layman. This is quite true since it is virtually impossible to write any legal description embracing twenty-five (25) miles of boundary over diverse and widely varying terrain, in language which would be comprehensible to a layman. However, this is not the test. The legal description of the Oxmoor Area sets forth precisely the configuration of the territory purported to be annexed by use of a metes and bounds description which can be identified and located by a land surveyor on the ground, and this description is more than adequate. D.