Definitions and theories professions and professionalization have long been tailored on a set of professions established in England during the 19^th century. Chartered surveyors belong in that group, but have not received the attention afforded to other members of the core set. This paper, conceived as a contribution to a theory of the relation between state, knowledge and profession, draws on the historical case of 19^th century British surveyors. It analyses the interface between state and profession, in an age when it became increasingly important to “reconcile the principle that the domain of the political must be restricted, with the recognition of the vital political implications of formally private activities.” Surveyors were claimants to a configuration of tasks – centred on the nexus of land, law and money – which made them an important auxiliary to the state apparatus and its technologies. This paper traces, through comparison of British surveyors over time and through juxtaposition with Swedish surveyors, how these tasks, and a corresponding knowledge-base, were shaped by the inclusion of new subspecialties and a complex legal environment.