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F E E 401 F E E

from fntu, of the \^rb fare, “to speak;” in whit li sense the te- lchiles should be tRe same with oratores; which sentiments is alo 'confirmed lev Varro , who says they were called indill'erently ie-t utics and oratores. 'I’he feciales were a sort of heridits, who,v Iten the Romans had any dispute with their neighbours, were sentlust to demand the thing pretended to be usurped, or require the<ati*!uctio» for the injury alleged to he done. If an atistver wasnut returned by them, tlutywas satisfactory to the _ ’e and thesenate, thc:v were dispatched again to declare war, and the like intreating of peace; the feciales being the only persons appointedto negociate bftween the senatr, &c. and the enemy.

Rif Li, Ifcnh, Sax. Jee, Danish, cattle; ftudtun, low Lat.] inlaw, all 'and tenements that arc held by any acknowledgement ofsuperiority to a higher lord. All I nti - and tenements, wherein aman hath a perpetual estate to him and his heirs, &c. are dividedinto allodium and 'feuduin; allodium is every mail’s own land,which he possesses merely in his own right, without acknow-ledgement of anv service or payment of any rent to any other.Feudum, or he, is that which we hold by the benefit of another,and in name whereof v.e owe services, or pay tent, or both, to asuperior lord.

Fee Absolute, or Fef. Simple. A tenant, says F.lackstone,in fee simple, (or, as he is irequently styled, tenant in fee,) is hethat hath'lauds, tenements or hereditaments to hold to him andhis heirs for ever; generally, absolutely, and simply; withoutmentioning what heirs, lint referring that to his own plea-ure, orto tins disposition of the l.,w. The true meaning of the word ; ee,{feodum,) is the same with that of feud or lie!, (See Fludai. Sys-tim;) and in its original sense it is taken in contradistinction toallodium; which is property in its highest degree; and the ownerthereof hath absolution et directum dominium, and therefore issaid to he seised thereof absolutelv in dominio suo, in Ins owndemesne. Rut this allodial property no subject in Britain lias; it•being a received and now-undeniable principle in the law, that allthe lands are holden mediately or immediately ot the king. Asubject therefore hath only the usufruct, and not the absolute pro-perty ot the soil. And hence in tiie most solemn acts of law, thestrongest and highest estate that anv subject can have is expressedby these words, “ be is seised thereof m his demesne, as of tee.”It is a man’s demesne, dom nium, or property, since it belongs tohim and iiis heirs for ever: yet this property or demesne, is strictlynot absolute or allodial, but qualmed or feodal: it is in bis de-mesne, as of fee ; that it is not purely and simply his own, sinceit is held of a superior lord, in whom the ultimate property resides.This is the primary seme and acceptation of the word tee. But (asSir Martin Wright very justly observes} the doctrine, “that all landsare holden,” having been mr so many ages a fixed and undeniable^axiom, the Knglish lawyers do very rarely (of late years especi-ally) use the word fee in tins its primary original sense, in contra-distinction.jlo allodium or ab-olule property, with which they haveno concern;, but generally me it to express the continuance orqnantity-ot estate. A fee then-mix, in general, signifies an estateof inheritance; being the highest and most extensive interest thata man can have in a feud: and when the term is used simply,without any other, adjunct, or lias the adjunct of simple annexed■to it, it is used m contradistinction to a fee conditional at the com-mon law, or a fee-tail by the statute ; importing an absolute inhe-ritance, clear of any condition, limitation, or restrictions, to parti-cular la irs, bat descendible to the heirs general, whether male orfemale, lineal or collateral. And in no other sense than this is the■king said to be seised in fee, lie being the feudatory of no man.Taking therefore tee in this its secondary sense, as a state of inhe-ritance, it is applicable to, and may be bail in, any kind of heredi-taments either corporeal or incorporeal. But there is this distinc-tion between the two species of hereditaments; that of a corporealinheritance a man shall be l aid to be seised in his demesne, as offee ; of an incorporeal one he shall only be said to be seised as offee, and not in bis demesne. For as incorporeal hereditamentsare in their nature coll, teral to, and issue out of, lands and houses,their owner hath no property, dominium, or demesne, in the thingitself, but hath only something derived out of it; resembling theservitudes, or services, of the civil law. The dominium, or pro-perly, is frequently in one man, w hile the appendage, or service,is in another. Thus G.iius may be seised as of fee, ot a way goingjover the land, of which Titius is seised in his demesne as of fee.

'Hie fee simple or inheritance of lauds and tenements is generallyve teii and icsides in some per-on or other; though clivers inte-r-.or estates may be caned out of it. As it one grants a lease lor2\ years, or for one or two lives, the tee simple remains vested inh.m and his heir.-; and after the determination ol those years orlives, the land reverts to the granler or Iris heirs, who shall hold itagain in fee simple. A et sometimes the tee may be in abeyance,that is (as tlie word 'Signifies) in expectation, remembrance, andcontemplation, m law;, there being no person in esse, inv.liom.itcan vest and abide, though the law considers it as always poten-tially existing, and ready to vest whenever a proper owner ap-pears. Thus, in a grant to John tor life, and afterwards to theliens of Richard, the inheritance is plainly neither granted to Johnnor Bichard, nor t ail it vest in the heirs of Kicnard, till his death,mini nemo e-t lucres viventh: it remains therefore in waiting, orabeyance, during the life ot Richard. This is likewise the ca-e ofa parson of a church, who hat!) only an estate therein for the termot his life; and the inheritance remains in abeyance. And notonly the tee, but the. freehold also, may lie in abeyance; as, whena parson dies, the freehold of his glebe is in abeyance until a suc-cessor be named, and then it vests in the successor. The wordheirs is necessary in the grant or donation in order to make a feeor inheritance.

Fees, Limited, or such estates of inheritances as are cloggedand confined with conditions or qualifications mav he divided intotwo sorts, viz. 1. Qualified or base fees: and, V. Lees conditional,or fees tail.

1 Fee Qualified, or Rase Fee, is such as has a qualificationsubjoined, and which must be determined whenever the qualifica-tion annexed to it is it an end.. As, in the ease of a grant to A andhi- heirs, tenants in the manor of Dale ; in this instance, wheneverthe heirs of A cease to be tenants of that manor, the grant is entirelydefeated.

Fee: 'Fail is so called in consequence of the statute de don is,or lee cond.tional, as it is called at common law, is an estate re-strained to some particular heirs, exclusive of others; as to theheirs of a man’s body, or to the heirs male of his body: in whichcases tt was held, that as soon-as the grantee had issue horn, theestate was thereby converted into fee simple, at least so far as toenable him to sell it, to forfeit it by treason, or to charge it withincumhranc.es. But the statute de donis having enacted, thatsuch estates so given, to a man and the heirs ol his body, should at11 events go to tile issue, if there were any, or if none, should re-vert to the donor; this was by the judges denominated an estate intail. Rlowd. 251.

1'ee also signifies a certain allowance to physicians, barristers,attorneys, amt other otTh ers, as a reward lor then- pains and labour,if a person reluse to pay an officer his due lees, the court willgrant an attachment against him, to be committed till the teesare paid ; and an attorney may bring an action on the case for hisfees, again-t the client that retained him in his cause.

Fee also denotes a settled perquisite of public officers, payableby those who employ them. ’Hie fees due to the officers of thecustom-house, are expressly mentioned in a schedule, or table,which is Imug ep in public view in the said office, and in all otherplaces where the -aid tees are to he paid or received. And if anyofficer shall offend, by acting contrary' to the regulations thereincontained, lie shall oi ieit his office and place, and he for everafter incapable of any office in the custom-house. 'I he other pub-lic offices have likewise their settled fees, for tlie several branchesof bu-iness transacted in them.

FLF-FAB.M, is a tenure without homage fealty, or other ser-vice, except that mentioned in the feoffment, which is usually tliethe full rent, or at least a fourth pail of it. The nature of this te-nure is, that if the rent he behind, and unpaid tor two years, thenthe feoffer and his heirs may have an action tor the recovery ofthe lands.

FLFLERS, the horn-, or antenna*, of insects.

FFKLl’Nti is one of the live external senses, by 'which we ob-tain the ideas of solidity, hardness, soitness, smoothness, roughness,heat, cold, wetness, dryness, and other tangible qualities. Thissense, though the coarsest, is the surest and most universal of allothers, and is indeed the basis of all other sensations.

FLET-BEARKR, an officer in the courts of the ancient Anglo*Saxon and Welsh kings. lie was a young gentleman whose duty

it

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