Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

481

FEE

TEE-SIMPLE

ternal,—while the administration of national affairs is directed, and its effects felt, not by the separate states deliberating as units, but by the people ot all, in their collective capaci ty, as citizens of the nation. The distinc tion is expressed, by the German writers, by the use of the two words " Staatenbund" and "Bundesstaat;" the former denoting a league or confederation of states, and the latter a federal government, or state formed by means of a league or confederation. FEE. 1. A freehold estate in lands, held of a superior lord, as a reward for services, and on condition of rendering some service in return for it. The true meaning of the word "fee" is the same as that of "feud" or "fief," and in its original sense it is taken in con tiadistinction to "allodium," which latter is defined as a man's own land, which he pos sesses merely in his own right, without ow ing any rent or service to any superior. 2 Bl. Comm. 105. See 1 N. Y. 491. In modern English tenures, "fee" signifies an estate of inheritance, being the highest and most extensive interest which a man can have in a feud; and -when the term is used simply, without any adjunct, or in the form "fee-simple," it imports an absolute inher itance clear of any condition, limitation, or restriction to particuliar heirs, but descend ible to the heirs general, male or female, lin eal or collateral. 2 Bl. Comm. 106. In modern English tenures, a fee signifies an es tate of inheritance, and a fee-simple imports an absolute inheritance, clear of any condition or lim itation whatever, and, when not disposed of by will, descends to the heirs generally. There are also limited fees: (1) Qualified or base fees; and (2) fees conditional at the common law. A base fee was confined to a person as tenant of a particular place. A conditional fee was restrained to par ticular heirs, as to the heirs of a man's body. 11 Wend. 259, 277. A determinable fee is one which may pos sibly continue indefinitely, but which is liable to be determined. Plowd. 557. A qualified (or base) fee is one which has a qualification subjoined thereto, and which must be determined whenever the qualifica tion annexed to it is at an end. 2 Bl. Comm. 109. A conditional fee.lat the common law,was a fee restrained to some particular heirs ex elusive of others. These afterwards became estates tail. 2 Bl. Comm. 110. 2. The word "fee" is also frequently used to denote the land which is held in fee. 3. The compass or circuit of a manor or lordship. Cowell.

4. In American law. A fee la an estate of inheritance without condition, belonging to the owner, and alienable by him, or trans missible to his heirs absolutely and simply. It is an absolute estate in perpetuity, and the largest possible estate a man can have, being, in fact, allodial in its nature. 5. A reward or wages given to one for the execution of his office, or for professional services, as those of a counsellor or physi cian. Cowell. FEE-BILL. A schedule of the fees to be charged by clerks of courts, sheriffs, or other officers, for each particular service in the line of their duties. FEE EXPECTANT. An estate where lands are given to a man and his wife, and the heirs of their bodies. FEE-FARM. This is a species of tenure, where land is held of another in perpetuity at a yearly rent, without fealty, homage, or other services than such as are specially com prised in the feoff ment. It corresponds very nearly to the "emphyteusis" of the Ron)an law. Fee-farm Is where an estate in fee is granted subject to a rent in fee of at least one-fourth of the value of the lands at the time of its reservation. Such rent appears to be called "fee-farm" because a grant ofulands reserving so considerable a rent is indeed only letting lands to farm in fee-simple, instead of the usual method of life or years. 2 Bl. Comm 43; 1 Steph. Comm. 676. Fee-farms are lands held in fee to render for them annually the true value, or more or less; so called because a farm rent is reserved upon a grant in fee. Such estates are estates of inheritance. They are classed among estates in fee-simple. No reversionary interest remains in the lessor, and they are therefore subject to the operation of the legal principles which forbid restraints upon alien ation in all cases where no feudal relation exists between grantor and grantee. 6 N. Y. 467, 497. FEE-FARM RENT. The rent reserved on granting a fee-farm. It might be one fourth the value of the land, according to Cowell; one-third, according to other authors. Spelman; Termesde la Ley; 2 Bl. Comm. 43. Fee-farm rent is a rent-charge issuing out of an estate in fee; a perpetual rent reserved on a con veyance in fee-simple. 6 N. Y. 467, 496. FEE-SIMPLE. In English law. A freehold estate of inheritance, absolute and unqualified. It stands at the head of estates as the highest in dignity and the most ample in extent; since every other kind of estate is derivable thereout, and mergeable therein, for omne majus continet in se minus. It may be enjoyed not only in land, but also in advowsons, commons, estovers, and other

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