Fee, in modern property law, describes the kind of ownership that may pass to an owner’s heirs on his or her death. A fee simple absolute is complete ownership of land. A fee simple determinable is ownership that is automatically lost if the property is used in a way prohibited by the previous owner. A fee simple conditional gives the previous owner a choice of whether to retake land used in a certain way. A fee tail is ownership that must pass in a certain way, as from father to eldest son. The term fee, or fief, also referred to a form of land ownership in western Europe during the Middle Ages (about the 400’s through the 1400’s). A fief was the piece of land that a lord granted to an individual in return for certain services.
