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 contradistinction to "allodium," which latter is defined as a man's own land, which he posSe!lses merely in his own right, without owing any rent or service to any superior. 2 BI. Comm. 105. See Wendell v. Crandall, 1 N. Y. 491. In -modern English tenures, "fee" signifies an estate ot 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 particular heirs, but descendIble to the heirs general, male or female, lineal or collateral. 2 BI. Comm. 106. -Ba■e fee. A determinable or qualified fee; an estate having the nature.of a fee, but not a fee simple absolute.-Oondltional fee. A.a estate restrained to some parti~lar heirs, ex• elusive of Qthers,· as to the heirs of a man'• body, b7 wbich.onl7 hi■ lineal descendant■ were [s. 492]