Maryland Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them

Two things only: the legend and the licensee's name. Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-501(b) provides that the seal shall be of a design determined by the Board and shall include the legend and the name of the licensee who holds the seal. There is no statutory requirement for a license number, for the words "State of Maryland", or for the pictorial device of the Great Seal of Maryland that the engineer's and architect's seals must carry at their center. A Maryland surveyor's seal is built to a shorter specification than either of the other two professions'. (Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-501(b))

One of two, depending on which license is held. Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-501(b)(2)(i) gives the legend as either "professional land surveyor" or "licensed property line surveyor", and § 15-502(a) treats the two as distinct licensees, each endorsing documents in their own right. Maryland licenses property line surveyors as a separate class; a property line surveyor's seal reading "professional land surveyor" claims a license the holder does not have. (Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-501(b)(2)(i); § 15-502(a))

On a plat, yes — though the endorsement statute alone would not tell you so. Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-502(a) requires the surveyor who prepared a plan, plat, report or specification to endorse on it the licensee's name and the seal or a facsimile of the seal before issuing it to a client or submitting it to a public authority. Name and seal: no signature and no date. The signature and date come from the minimum standards instead — COMAR 09.13.06.03F(3) requires every boundary survey plat to show a Date, the name and address of the surveyor or firm, and the seal and signature of the surveyor who personally prepared the survey or was in responsible charge over it. The engineer's statute, by contrast, calls for the original signature and the date of signature on its face. (Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-502(a); COMAR 09.13.06.03F(3)(c), (e) and (g); Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 14-4A-02(a))

A prescribed one whose wording is not the engineers' or the architects'. COMAR 09.13.06.12.I requires the licensee, when signing and sealing surveying documents, to indicate the license expiration date on the documents before submitting them and to include the statement: "Professional Certification. I hereby declare that these documents were prepared or approved by me or under my responsible charge, and that I am a duly licensed land surveyor under the laws of the State of Maryland, License No._____, and License Expiration Date: _______________." Two words repay attention — it is "declare", not "certify", and "licensed land surveyor", not the seal's own legend of "professional land surveyor". (COMAR 09.13.06.12.I; Md. Code, Bus. Occ. & Prof. § 15-501(b)(2)(i))