fee, in property law: see property; tenure.

Fee, John Gregg, 1816-1901, American abolitionist clergyman, b. Bracken co., Ky. After two years (1842-44) at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, he devoted himself to the abolitionist cause in Kentucky; for this he was disinherited by his slaveholding parents. He founded antislavery churches, notably one at Berea, where he also established (1857) an abolitionist school that became Berea College. Driven from Kentucky in 1859, Fee was not able to return until 1863. He spent the rest of his life in Berea as pastor of the church and a trustee of the college.

In law, an inheritable freehold estate in real property (see real and personal property). The word derives from fief, as used in feudal law. Modern property law includes several varieties of fee, including fee simple (alienable and of indefinite duration), fee tail (granted to an individual and his or her descendants but subject to reversion if a tenant dies with no descendants), and life fee or life estate (held only during the lifetime of the grantee).

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