Also known as: monuments · boundary marker · monumentation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A physical object fixed permanently in land and used to mark boundaries in a metes and bounds description. Natural monuments include trees or rivers while artificial monuments include spikes or pipes set by surveyors. When a monument conflicts with a course or distance in the description the monument controls.
A physical object fixed permanently in land and used to mark boundaries in a metes and bounds description. Natural monuments include trees or rivers while artificial monuments include spikes or pipes set by surveyors. When a monument conflicts with a course or distance in the description the monument controls.
Monuments serve as fixed reference points that control over conflicting courses or distances. When a description refers to a monument the actual location of that monument governs the boundary even if the stated distance or bearing would lead elsewhere.
A permanent structure or display placed in a public park that constitutes government speech even when privately donated. Selection and content of such monuments receive no Free Speech Clause scrutiny and the government may reject additional monuments whose messages it does not endorse.
The State Parks Agency maintains Riverton Industrial Heritage Park featuring donated factory machines with plaques praising production. GreenEarth Alliance proposes a permanent sculpture criticizing factory pollution. The agency refuses the proposal. Because the existing machines and plaques are government speech the refusal does not trigger Free Speech Clause review and the agency may decline the new monument.
A permanent structure or display placed in a public park that constitutes government speech even when privately donated. Selection and content of such monuments receive no Free Speech Clause scrutiny and the government may reject additional monuments whose messages it does not endorse.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
The City of San Diego maintains a public monument honoring local veterans in a highway rest area. A company seeks to erect a large political sign immediately adjacent to the monument. The city denies the permit. The ordinance treats the proposed sign as private speech subject to time place and manner rules while the existing monument remains government speech immune from the same scrutiny.
The City of Pleasant Grove maintains a donated monument in its central park. IndieWave Records proposes an additional monument containing an ethnic slur used ironically to protest discrimination. The city refuses the proposal. Because the existing monument is government speech rather than private speech the refusal does not constitute unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment.
Permanent monuments in public parks constitute government speech even when privately donated. The government may therefore select which messages to endorse and may refuse additional monuments whose messages it does not wish to convey without triggering Free Speech Clause scrutiny.
Longstanding religious monuments on public property receive a presumption of constitutionality when they have historical significance and the secular context predominates. A large cross memorial and a Ten Commandments display among other historical markers have been upheld under this approach.
…of the communications market. Archaeologists use the term “graffiti” to describe informal inscriptions on tombs and ancient monuments. The graffito was familiar in the culture of Egypt and Greece, in the Italian decorative art of the 15th century, and it survives today in some subways and on the walls of public buildings.…