Section 44-1-15. Removal or destruction of survey monuments prohibited; exceptions; penalties

   (a) As used in this Code section, the term:

   (1) "Geodetic control monuments" means those survey monuments which are established by federal, state, local, and private agencies, the position of which monuments on the earth's surface has been fixed by high-order surveying and computation for use by surveyors and engineers in the extension of geodetic position to property corners, improvements to property, utility systems, streets and highways, and such other objects and things as may be located by surveying. Such monuments may be in the form of metal disks set in concrete, rock, metal, or some other fixed permanent object, the position thereof having been published by the agency which established the monument and made available to the public as well as to land surveyors and engineers for public use.

   (2) "Property corner monuments" means those survey monuments which are established to identify property corners, the location and description of which are made a part of any plat or any instrument pertaining to real property filed in the office of the clerk of the superior court of any county of this state. Said survey monuments may be any permanent or semipermanent objects or any live or dead plant material, including, but not limited to, iron or steel pipes, bars, or rods; concrete markers, including highway right of way markers; stone or rock, whether natural or erected; trees, stumps, stakes, and marks, including those marks made on trees, stones, rocks, concrete, or metal; and such other monuments as may be described in said plats and instruments of record.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person willfully and knowingly to remove, destroy, injure, or displace any geodetic control monument or property corner monument except under the authority of the agency which originally set the monument or, in the case of a property corner monument, under the authority of a registered land surveyor or duly elected or appointed county surveyor having the written permission of all landowners who are parties to said property corner monument. In the case of a geodetic control monument, the record of any authorized change shall be published; and, in the case of a property corner monument, the record of any authorized change shall be filed for record in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county in which the monument is located.

(c) Any person who violates this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $100.00 nor more than $500.00 and may also be punished by imprisonment for not less than 30 days nor more than 60 days.

Ga. L. 1978, p. 1614, §§ 1-3; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 44.