Tennessee · Land Surveyor seal requirements
Tennessee Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in Tennessee seal under Rule 0820-04-.08 (Seals), administered by the Tennessee Board of Examiners for Land Surveyors. The seal reads “REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR”. Two inches in diameter in all cases and on all documentation requiring the registrant's seal, regardless of the size of the document.
The 1⅝-to-1⅞-inch range quoted for Tennessee has no source in the rules: the words "inch", "diameter" and "size" appear nowhere in chapters 0120-01 or 0120-02. The two-inch figure belongs to the land surveyor rule. The Secretary of State still publishes the rule-maker as the State Board of Architectural and Engineering Examiners (Title 0120), while the board's own page uses the name State Board of Examiners for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors.
Tennessee Land Surveyor seal
- Seal rule
- Rule 0820-04-.08 (Seals)
- Legend
- “REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR”
- Diameter
- Two inches in diameter in all cases and on all documentation requiring the registrant's seal, regardless of the size of the document.
- Expiration date
- The illustration carries the registrant's name, "REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR", the Tennessee state-seal device and "TENNESSEE NO." — no license date.(Rule 0820-04-.08(1))
- Signature date
- The seal, the signature and the date of signing go on all land surveys, reports, plats, drawings, plans and calculations presented to a client or public agency; the signature and date of signature are superimposed across the face and beyond the circumference of, or adjacent to, the seal. The engineer's handwritten-signature provision at 0120-02-.08(3) offers no "adjacent" option, though its electronic-signature provision at (8)(b) does.(Rule 0820-04-.08(2), (3))
- City on seal
- The rule does not require a city on the seal.(Rule 0820-04-.08(1))
- The design is fixed by the illustration at 0820-04-.08(1): the registrant's name arcing the top, "REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR" on the inner arc, the Tennessee state-seal device in the center, and "TENNESSEE NO." across the bottom.(Rule 0820-04-.08(1))
- The two-inch diameter is absolute — it does not scale with the document.(Rule 0820-04-.08(2))
- The registrant superimposes his or her signature — not a rubber stamp — and the date of signature across the face and beyond the circumference of, or adjacent to, the seal. The engineer's rule does not offer the adjacent option.(Rule 0820-04-.08(3))
- Where a document contains more than one sheet, the first or title page is sealed and signed by the registrant in responsible charge, and each sheet is sealed and signed by the registrant responsible for that sheet.(Rule 0820-04-.08(5))
Tennessee land surveyor seal questions
Can a Tennessee land surveyor shrink the seal to fit a plat?▾
No. The seal is two inches in diameter in all cases and on all documentation requiring the registrant's seal, regardless of the size of the document — an absolute dimension, not a minimum and not a maximum. Scaling the stamp down for a crowded title block, or up for a large sheet, puts it outside the rule. The contrast with the architects' and engineers' chapter is sharp: that one prescribes no dimension at all. (Rule 0820-04-.08(2))
Does a Tennessee land surveyor's seal say "State of Tennessee"?▾
It does not. The prescribed illustration puts "TENNESSEE NO." across the bottom outer band, with the registration number following it, and "REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR" on the inner arc beneath the registrant's name. "STATE OF TENNESSEE" belongs to the engineer's and architect's seals in the other chapter, and "Professional Land Surveyor" is not the Tennessee wording at all. (Rule 0820-04-.08(1); cf. Rule 0120-02-.08(1)(a)-(b))
Can a Tennessee land surveyor type the date beside a computer seal?▾
Not on a drawing that carries no digital signature. A computer-generated seal that is not signed with a digital signature may be used on final original drawings only if a handwritten signature is placed across the seal and the date is hand-written below the seal. The rule fixes the position of each element, and below the seal is where the date goes — a typed date, or a date anywhere else on the sheet, does not meet it. The alternative is a digital signature satisfying the four tests in the same paragraph. (Rule 0820-04-.08(10))
Does a preliminary Tennessee survey drawing need a seal?▾
Only if it is not labeled. Working drawings and preliminary documents need no seal and no signature provided they carry a statement in large bold letters to the effect "PRELIMINARY, NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION, RECORDING PURPOSES, OR IMPLEMENTATION." Everything else — land surveys, reports, plats, drawings, plans and calculations presented to a client or any public agency — takes the seal, the signature and the date of signing. (Rule 0820-04-.08(2))
Which Tennessee rule prescribes the land surveyor's seal?▾
Chapter 0820-04, not the chapter most searches return. Rule 0120-02-.08, the Tennessee seal rule quoted almost everywhere, applies by its own terms only to persons registered to practice architecture, engineering or landscape architecture. The surveyor's seal, its fixed two-inch diameter and its "TENNESSEE NO." bottom band come from Rule 0820-04-.08, a separate title in the Secretary of State's compilation carrying its own design. (Rule 0820-04-.08(1)-(2); Rule 0120-02-.01(1))