BASE

See also:

• FEE

FEE  , in law, a freehold estate of inheritance which is limited or qualified by the existence of certain conditions . In modern property law the commonest example of a base fee is an estate created by a tenant in tail, not in possession, who bars the entail without the consent of the protector of the settlement . Though he bars his own issue, he cannot bar any remainder or reversion, and the estate (i.e. the base fee) thus created is deter-minable on the failure of his issue in tail . An, example of this kind of estate was introduced by George Eliot into the plot of Felix Holt . Another example of a base fee is an estate descendible to heirs general, but terminable on an uncertain event; for example, a grant of land to A and his heirs, tenants of the manor of Dale . The estate terminates whenever the prescribed qualification ceases . An early meaning of base feg was an estate held not by free or military service, but by base service, i.e. at the will of the lord .