Fee (fē), n. [OE. fe,
feh, feoh, cattle, property, money, fief, AS.
feoh cattle, property, money; the senses of "property, money,"
arising from cattle being used in early times as a medium of exchange
or payment, property chiefly consisting of cattle; akin to OS.
fehu cattle, property, D. vee cattle, OHG. fihu,
fehu, G. vieh, Icel. fē cattle, property,
money, Goth. faíhu, L. pecus cattle,
pecunia property, money, Skr. paçu cattle, perh.
orig., "a fastened or tethered animal," from a root signifying to
bind, and perh. akin to E. fang, fair, a.; cf. OF.
fie, flu, feu, fleu, fief, F.
fief, from German, of the same origin. the sense fief
is due to the French. √249. Cf. Feud, Fief,
Fellow, Pecuniary.] 1. property;
possession; tenure. "Laden with rich fee."
Spenser.
Once did she hold the gorgeous East in
fee.
Wordsworth.
2. Reward or compensation for services
rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional
services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge;
pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the
fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees;
marriage fees, etc.
To plead for love deserves more fee than
hate.
Shak.
3. (Feud. Law) A right to the use of a
superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the
land so held; a fief.
4. (Eng. Law) An estate of inheritance
supposed to be held either mediately or immediately from the
sovereign, and absolutely vested in the owner.
☞ All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this
kind. An absolute fee, or fee simple, is land which a
man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants
in fee simple. In modern writers, by fee is usually meant
fee simple. A limited fee may be a qualified or
base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain
conditions; or a conditional fee, or fee tail, which is
limited to particular heirs. Blackstone.
5. (Amer. Law) An estate of
inheritance belonging to the owner, and transmissible to his heirs,
absolutely and simply, without condition attached to the
tenure.
Fee estate (Eng. Law), land or
tenements held in fee in consideration or some acknowledgment or
service rendered to the lord. -- Fee farm
(Law), land held of another in fee, in consideration of an
annual rent, without homage, fealty, or any other service than that
mentioned in the feoffment; an estate in fee simple, subject to a
perpetual rent. Blackstone. -- Fee farm
rent (Eng. Law), a perpetual rent reserved upon
a conveyance in fee simple. -- Fee fund
(Scot. Law), certain court dues out of which the clerks
and other court officers are paid. -- Fee
simple (Law), an absolute fee; a fee without
conditions or limits.
Buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a
quarter.
Shak.
-- Fee tail (Law), an estate of
inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs.
Burill.