Legal Definition and Related Resources of Fee

A reward, compensation or wage given to a person for performance of professional services or something done or to be done. A term of feudal origin denoting property that was capable of descending to the heirs of the owner . Used primarily in relation to land. Historically, the term denoted the feudal benefices granted to a man and his heirs in return for services to be rendered to the grantor .

A reward or wages given to one for the execution of his office, or for professional services, as those of a counsellor or physician. Cowell. Fees differ from costs in this, that the former are, as above mentioned, a recompense to the officer for his services; and the latter, an indemnification to the party for money laid out and expended in his suit. 11 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 248; 9 Wheat. (U. S.) 262. See 4 Bin. (Pa.) 267. That which is held of some superior on condition of rendering him services. A fee is defined by Spelman (Feuds, c. 1) as the right which the tenant or vassal has to the use of lands, while the absolute property remained in a superior. But this early and strict meaning of the word speedily passed into its modern signification of an estate of inheritance. 2 Bl.. Comm. 106 ; Cowell; Termes e la Ley; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 51; Co. Litt. lb; 1 Prest. Est. 420; 3 Kent, Comm. 514. The term may be used of other property as well as lands. Old Nat. Brev. 41. The term is generally used to denote as well the land itself so held as the estate in the land, which seems to be its stricter meaning. Wright, Ten. 19, 49; Cowell. The’ word “fee” is explained to signify that the land or other subject of property belongs to its owner, and is transmissible, in the case of an individual, to those whom the law appoints to succeed him, under the appellation of “heirs;” and, in the case of corporate bodies, to those who are to take on themselves the corporate function, and, from the manner in which the body is to be continued, are denominated “successors.” 1 Co. Litt. 271b; Wright, Ten. 147, 150; 2 Bl. Comm. 104, 106; Bouv. Inst. Index. Sometimes used for “fee simple.” The compass or circuit of a manor or lordship. Cowell. Fee Simple. An estate belonging to a man and his heirs absolutely. An estate of inheritance. Co. Litt. lb; 2 Bl. Comm. 106. The word “simple” adds no meaning to the word “fee,” standing by itself. But it excludes all qualification or restriction as to the persons who may inherit it as heirs, thus distinguishing it from a fee tail, as well as from an estate which, though inheritable, is subject to conditions or collateral determination. 1 Washb. Real Prop. 51; Wright, Ten. 146; 1 Prest. Est. 420; Litt. § 1. It is the largest possible estate which a man can have, being an absolute estate in perpetuity. It is where lands are given to a man and to his heirs absolutely without any end or limitation put to the estate. Plowd. 557; Atk. Conv. 183; 2 Sharswood, Bl. Comm. 106. Fee Tail. One limited to particular classes of heirs. An inheritable estate which can descend to certain classes of heirs only. It is necessary that they should be heirs “of the body” of the ancestor. It corresponds with the feudum talliatum of the feudal law. The estate itself is said to have been derived from the Roman system of restricting estates. 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 21; 1 Washb. Real Prop. 66; 2 Bl. Comm. 112, note. See, also, 2 Inst. 333; White & T. Lead, Cas. 607; 4 Kent, Comm. 14 et seq. Determinable Fee. One which is liable to be determined, but which may continue forever. 1 Plowd. 557; Shep. Touch. 97; 2 Bl. Comm. 109; Cro. Jac. 593; 10 Viner, Abr. 133; Fearne, Cont. Rem. 187; 3 Atk. 74; Ambl. 204; 9 Mod. 28. See “Determinable Fee.” Qualified Fee. An interest given to a man and certain of his heirs at the time of its limitation. Litt. § 254; Co. Litt. 27a, 220; 1 Prest. Est. 449. See “Qualified Fee.” Conditional Fee. This includes one that is either to commence or determine on some condition. 10 Coke, 95b; Prest. Est. 476; Fearne, Cont. Rem. 9. See “Condition.”

(Charge), noun

• charge for services
• compensation
• compensation for labor
• compensation for professional service
• consideration
• cost
• disbursement
• dues
• emolument
• exactment
• expenditure
• expense
• fare
• fixed charge
• merces
• payment
• price
• recompense
• remuneration
• reward
• toll
• wage
• Associated Concepts: attorney’s fee
• counsel fees
• reasonable fee
• splitting a fee

(Estate), noun

• absolute inheritance
• absolute interest in realty
• corporal hereditament
• feod
• feud
• fief
• freehold
• hereditament
• holding
• interest
• land
• landed estate
• landed property
• lands
• legal estate
• property
• real estate
• real property
• realty
• right of possession
• title
• unconditional inheritance
• unlimited inheritance
• unrestricted inheritance
• vested interest in land Associated Concepts: absolute fee
• base fee
• conditional fee
• contingent fee
• defeasible estate
• determinable fee
• fee simple
• fee tail
• limited fee
• qualified fee foreign phrases: Feodum est quod quis tenet ex quacunque causa sive sit tenementum sive redditus
• A fee is that which any one holds from whatever cause
• whether it be tenement or rent

Browse or run a search for Fee in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Fee in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Fee in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Fee in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

You might be also interested in these legal terms:

Translate Fee from English to Spanish

Translation of Fee , with examples. More about free online translation into Spanish of Cuota and other legal terms is available here.

• Cuota
• Costo
• Honorarios
• Estipendio
• Tarifa
• Derechos
• Legal English Translation

Translate Filing Fee from English to Spanish

Translation of Filing Fee , with examples. More about free online translation into Spanish of Costo de interposición and other legal terms is available here.

• Costo de interposición
• Cuota de interposición
• Legal English Translation

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Related topics	Fee in the World Encyclopedia of Law

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This definition of Fee is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This entry needs to be proofread.

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Fee in the Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims

1. (1) In feudal law, an allotment of land in consideration of military service; land held of a superior, on condition of rendering him service, the ultimate property remaining in him. Oppossed to allodium. See Allodial. (2) An estate of inheritance – the highest and most extensive interest a man can have in a feud.

Note: This legal definition of Fee in the Dictionary of Law (English and American Jurisprudence) is from 1893.

English Legal System: Fee

In the context of the English law, A Dictionary of Law provides the following legal concept of Fee :

A legal estate (other than leasehold) in land that is capable of being inherited. Since the Law of Property Act 1925 the term’s only modern significance is in the phrase *fee simple absolute in possessio All other such estates that formerly existed in fee are now equitable interests only.

Concept of Fee in the context of Real Property

Alternatives definitions of Fee: (1) Modernly, and not in strict legal terms, synonymous with fee simple or “ownership”. (2) A charge made by a landlord to a tenant, which is not refundable. For example: A cleaning deposit would be refunded if the tenant left the rented property reasonably clean. A cleaning fee would be a charge by the landlord for cleaning the rented property and would not be refunded regardless of the condition of the property.

Concept of Fee in the context of Real Property

Alternatives definitions of Fee: (1) Modernly, and not in strict legal terms, synonymous with fee simple or “ownership”. (2) A charge made by a landlord to a tenant, which is not refundable. For example: A cleaning deposit would be refunded if the tenant left the rented property reasonably clean. A cleaning fee would be a charge by the landlord for cleaning the rented property and would not be refunded regardless of the condition of the property.

Grammar

This term is a noun.

Etimology of Fee

(You may find fee at the world legal encyclopedia and the etimology of more terms).

Middle English, representing the merger or mutual influence of two words, one from Old English, one from an Old French form of the same Germanic word, and both ultimately from a PIE root meaning “cattle.” The Old English word is feoh “livestock, cattle; movable property; possessions in livestock, goods, or money; riches, treasure, wealth; money as a medium of exchange or payment,” from Proto-Germanic *fehu- (source also of Old Saxon fehu, Old High German fihu, German Vieh “cattle,” Gothic faihu “money, fortune”). This is from PIE *peku- “cattle” (source also of Sanskrit pasu, Lithuanian pekus “cattle;” Latin pecu “cattle,” pecunia “money, property”). The other word is Anglo-French fee, from Old French fieu, a variant of fief “possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment” (see fief), which apparently is a Germanic compound in which the first element is cognate (having the same ancestor) with Old English feoh. Via Anglo-French come the legal senses “estate in land or tenements held on condition of feudal homage; land, property, possession” (c. 1300). Hence fee-simple (late 14c.) “absolute ownership,” as opposed to fee-tail (early 15c.) “entailed ownership,” inheritance limited to some particular class of heirs (second element from Old French taillir “to cut, to limit”). The feudal sense was extended from landholdings to inheritable offices of service to a feudal lord (late 14c.; in Anglo-French late 13c.), for example forester of fe “a forester by heritable right.” As these often were offices of profit, the word came to be used for “remuneration for service in office” (late 14c.), hence, “payment for (any kind of) work or services” (late 14c.). From late 14c. as “a sum paid for a privilege” (originally admission to a guild); early 15c. as “money payment or charge exacted for a licence, etc.”

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Legal English Vocabulary: Fee in Spanish

Online translation of the English legal term fee into Spanish: honorarios (English to Spanish translation) . More about legal dictionary from english to spanish online.

Related to the Legal Thesaurus

Fee

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See Also

• Social Security Financing
• Social Insurance
• Social Security System