FEE

or FIEF (A.S. feoh, cattle, property), in law, primarily meant a loan of land, an estate held in trust on condition of the grantee giving personal or other service to the prince or lord who granted it. Feudal estates, however, soon came to be regarded as inalienable heritages held on various tenures; hence the term fee came to be equivalent to an estate of inheritance, that is, an interest in land which pa es to heirs if the owner die intestate. The amplest estate or interest in land is that of a fee-simple, which is also called an absolute fee, in contradistinction to a fee limited or clogged with certain conditions. A fee-simple means the entire and absolute po e ion of land, with full power to alienate it by deed, gift, or will. 1t is the estate out of which other le er estates are said to be carved; such as a fee-tail (see ENTAIL), which is limited to particular heirs, and subject to certain restrictions of use; and a base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain conditions.