Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FEE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 236 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

FEE , an See also:

estate in See also:land held of a See also:superior See also:lord on See also:condition of the performance of See also:homage or service (see See also:FEUDALISM). In See also:English See also:law " fee " signifies an estate of See also:inheritance (i.e. an estate descendable to the heirs of the grantee so See also:long as there are any in existence) as opposed to an estate for See also:life. It is divisible into three See also:species: (1) fee See also:simple; (2) conditional fee; (3) fee tail. (See ESTATE.) A fee See also:farm See also:rent is the rent reserved on granting a fee farm, i.e. land in fee simple, to be held by the See also:tenant and his heirs at a yearly rent. It is generally at least one-See also:fourth of the value of the land at the See also:time of its See also:reservation. (See RENT.) The word " fee " has also the sense of remuneration for services, especially the honorarium paid to a See also:doctor, lawyer or member of any other profession. It is also used of a fixed sum paid for the right to enter for an examination, or on See also:admission to member-See also:ship of a university or other society. This sense of the word is taken by the New English See also:Dictionary to be due to a use of " fee " in its feudal sense, and to represent a sum paid to the holder of an See also:office " in fee." The See also:etymology of the Med. See also:Lat. feudum, feodum or feum, of its See also:French See also:equivalent See also:fief, and English " fee," in Scots law " See also:feu (q.v.), is extremely obscure. (See the New English Dictionary, s.v. " Fee.") There is a See also:common See also:Teutonic word represented in Old English as fech or fee, in Old High See also:German as fehu, meaning See also:property in the shape of See also:cattle (cf. See also:modern Ger. Vieh, Dutch vee).

The old See also:

Aryan peku gives See also:Sanskrit papa, Lat. pecus, cattle, whence See also:petunia, See also:money. The O. Eng. feoh, in the sense of money, possibly survives in " fee," honorarium, though this is not the view of the New English Dictionary. The common explanation of the Med. Lat. feudum or feodum, of which See also:Ducange (Glossarium, s.v.) gives an example from a constitution of the See also:emperor See also:Charles the See also:Fat of the See also:year 884, is that it is formed from the Teutonic fehu, property, and od, See also:wealth (cf. AnaomuM and See also:UDAL). This would apparently restrict the See also:original meaning to movable property, while the See also:early applications of feudum are to the enjoyment of something granted in return for service (beneficium). Another theory takes the origin to be fehu alone, in a particular sense of See also:wages, See also:payment for services. This leaves the d- of feudum unexplained. Some have taken the origin to be a verbal See also:form feudare-= foam dare. Another theory finds the source in the O.

End of Article: FEE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FEDERICI, CAMILLO (1749-1802) 		[next]
FEHLING, HERMANN VON (1812—1885)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries