KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

487

FES

FEE-SIMPLE

admitted, in exclusion of collateral; or to the heirs male of his body, in exclusion of heirs female, whether lineal or collateral. It was called a "conditional fee," by reason of the con dition expressed or implied in the donation of it that, if the donee died without such particu lar heirs, the land should revert to the donor. 2 Bl. Oomm. 110; Kirk v. Furgerson, 6 Oold. (Tenn.) 483; Simmons v. Augustin, 3 Port. (Ala.) 69; Paterson v. Ellis, 11 Wend. (N. Y.) 277; Moody v. Walker, 3 Ark. 190; Halbert v. Halbert, 21 Mo. 281.—Determinable fee. (Also called a "qualified" or "base" fee.} One which has a qualification subjoined to it, and which must be determined whenever the qual ification annexed to it is at an end. 2 Bl. Oomm. 109. An estate in fee which is liable to be determined by some act or event express ed on its limitation to circumscribe its continu ance, or inferred by law as bounding its ex tent. 1 Washb. Real Prop. 62; MicLane v. Bo vee, 35 Wis. 36—Fee damages. See DAM AGES —Fee expectant. An estate where lands are given to a man and his wife, and the heirs of their bodies.—Fee simple. See that title.—Fee tail. See that title.—Great fee. In feudal law, this was the designation of a fee held directly from the crown.—Knight's fee. The determinate quantity of land, (held by an estate of inheritance,) or of annual in come therefrom, which was sufficient to main tain a knight. Every man holding such a fee was obliged to be knighted, and attend the king in his wars for the space of forty days in the year, or pay a fine (called "escuage") for his non-compliance. The estate was estimated at £20 a year, or, according to Coke, 680 acres. See 1 Bl. Oomm. 404, 410; 2 Bl. Comm. 62; Co. Litt. 69a.—Limited fee. An estate of inheri tance in lands, which is clogged or confined with some sort of condition or qualification. Such estates are base or qualified fees, condi tional fees, and fees-tail. The term is n opposed to "fee-simple." 2 Bl. Oomm. 109; Lott r. Wyckoff, 1 Barb. (N. Y.) 575; Paterson v. Ellis, 11 Wend. (N. Y.) 259—Plowman's fee. In old English law, this was a species of ten ure peculiar to peasants or small farmers, some what like gavelkind, by which the lands de scended in equal shares to all the sons of the tenant.—Qualified fee. In English law. A fee having a qualification subjoined thereto, and which must be determined whenever the quali fication annexed to it is at an end; otherwise termed a "base fee." 2 Bl. Oomm. 109; 1 Steph. Oomm. 225. An interest which may continue forever, but is liable to be deter mined, without the aid of a conveyance, by Borne act or event, circumscribing its continu ance or extent. 4 Kent, Oomm. 9; Moodv v. Walker, 3 Ark. 190; U. S. v. Reese, 27 Fed. Cas. 744; Bryan v. Spires, 3 Brewst. (Pa.) 583.—Quasi fee. An estate gained by wrong; for wrong is unlimited and uncontained within rules. Wharton. 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 is 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. Earnest v. Little River Land, etc., Co., 109 Tenn. 427, 76 S. W. 1122; Phoenix v. Emigration Com'rs, 12 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 10; United States Pipe-Line Co. v. Delaware, L. & W. R. Co.,

62 N. J. Law, 254, 41 Atl. 759, 42 L. R. A. 572. 5. A reward, compensation, or wage given to one for the performance of offleial duties (clerk of court, sheriff, etc.) or for profes sional services, as in the case of an attorney at law or a physician. —Contingent fee. A fee stipulated to be paid to an attorney for his services in conduct ing a suit or other forensic proceeding only in case he wins it; it may be a percentage of the amount recovered.—Docket fee. See DOCKET.—Fee-bill. A schedule of the fees to be charged by clerks of courts, sheriffs, or oth er officers, for each particular service in the line of their duties. 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 feoffment. It corresponds very nearly to the "emphyteusis" of the Roman 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 of lands reserving so considerable a rent is indeed only letting lands to farm in fee-simple, instead of the usu al 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 in heritance. 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 alienation in all cases where no feudal relation exists between gran tor and grantee. De Peyster v. Michael, 6 N. Y. 497. 57 Am. Dec. 470. —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. Spel man; Termes de 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 conveyance in fee-simple. De Peyster r. Michael, 6 N. Y. 467, 495, 57 Am. Dec. 470. 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. It may be enjoyed not only in land, but also in advowsons, commons, estovers, and other hereditaments, as well as in personalty, as an annuity or dignity, and also in an upper chamber, though the lower buildings and soil belong to another. Wharton. In American law. An absolute or fee simple estate is one in which the owner is entitled to the entire property, with uncondi tional power of disposition during his life, and descending to his heirs and legal repre sentatives upon his death intestate. Code Ga. 1882, § 2246. And see Friedman v. Stein er, 107 111. 131; Woodberry v. Matherson, 19 FEE-SIMPLE. In English, law.