Fee sb.2. World English Historical Dictionary

Fee sb.2. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2022. Fee sb.2 Forms: 4–5 fe, feo, fey, 6 fie, 3– fee. Pl. 3 fez, 3–4 feez, 5 fese, 5–6 feeze, 6 feas, feis, 4– fees. See also FEU, FEUD sb.2, FIEF sb. [a. AF. fee, fie = OF. fé, fié, *fiet (app. implied in fiez pl.), fief, fieu, fiu, Pr. feo, feu, fieu, It. fio (prob. from Fr. or Pr.; the Langobardic Lat. faderfium is a compound of Teut. fehu FEE sb.1), med.L. feodum, feudum (first cited by Du Cange from a charter of Charles the Fat, A.D. 884), also fevum, feum, fedium, in Sicily fegum.

1   The mutual relation of the various Romanic and med.L. forms is somewhat obscure. According to some scholars, fief is a vbl. sb. f. fiever to grant in fee, f. fieu, which, as well as the other forms of the sb., descends from feodum or its Teut. source. The ultimate etymology is uncertain. A prevalent view is that the word is f. OHG. fehu cattle, property, money (= FEE sb.1), + ôd wealth, property. This must be rejected, because such an etymology could directly yield no other sense than that of ‘movable property,’ which is very remote from the sense of feodum as used in early records, viz. usufruct granted in requital of service (often opposed to alodis, originally meaning ‘inheritance’); cf. the synonyms, Ger. lehen, OE. lǽn (the same word as Eng. loan), and L. beneficium, i.e., something granted to a subject by the kindness of his lord. A more tenable theory is that the OF. fiu is an adoption of the Teut. fehu in the contextual sense of ‘wages, payment for service’; the Rom. word certainly had this meaning (see branch II below), and it is conceivable that the feudal sense is a specific application of it. The d of the L. forms, feudum, feodum, however, is left unexplained by this hypothesis; some regard it as a euphonic insertion (comparing It. chiodo nail from vulgar L. *clo-um from clavum); others think that it is due to the analogy of allodium; and others suppose feudum to be a vbl. sb. f. feudare = feum dare; but each of these views involves serious difficulties. It is not impossible that two originally distinct words may have been confused. A conjecture proposed by Prof. Kern, and approved by some German jurists, is that feodum represents an OHG. *fehôd, related to the vb. fehôn, which is recorded only in the sense ‘to eat, feed upon,’ but is supposed on etymological grounds to have had the wider meaning ‘to take for one’s enjoyment.’ This would account fairly well for the sense, but involves too much hypothesis to be accepted with confidence. It is curious, if the word be of Teut. formation, that there is no direct proof of its having existed in any Teut. language, nor is it found even in the L. text of the Frankish laws.]

2   1.  Feudal Law. An estate in land (in England always a heritable estate), held on condition of homage and service to a superior lord, by whom it is granted and in whom the ownership remains; a fief, feudal benefice. † To take (a person’s) fee: to become his vassal. Now only Hist.

3   Ecclesiastical fee (L. feodum ecclesiasticum): one held by an ecclesiastical person or corporation, and not owing any but spiritual service. Knight’s fee, lay fee: see KNIGHT sb., LAY a.

4 [1292.  Britton, III. ii. § 1. Plusours maneres des feez sount et de tenures.]

5 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 63. Þerfor vnto þam tuo he gaf Griffyns feez.

6 c. 1400.  Melayne, 1371. Allas … Þat euer I tuke thi fee!

7 1473.  Warkw., Chron., 23. A generalle resumpcion of alle lordschippes, tenamentes, and other possesions and feys grawntede be the Kynge.

8 1767.  Blackstone, Comm., II. 105. Feodum, or fee, is that which is held of some superior, on condition of rendering him service.

9 1836.  Baines, Hist. Lanc., III. 204. The great fee or lordship of Pontefract was vested in them.

10 1844.  Williams, Real Prop. (1877), 43. The word fee (feudum) anciently meant any estate feudally held of another person.

11 1863.  H. Cox, Instit., II. xi. 583. [Of the counties palatine] there remain now only those of Lancaster and Durham; the former a lay fee, and the latter formerly an ecclesiastical fee belonging to the Bishop of Durham, who held this feudal earldom.

12   b.  Phrases, (As) in or of fee (= L. in, de feudo, ut in feudo): by a heritable right subject to feudal obligations. Now only Hist. Also transf. and fig.

13 [1292.  Britton, I. xxi. § 4. Autres qe il ne avoint en lour demeyne cum de fee.]

14 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 86.        William þe Conqueror his ancestres & he Held with grete honour Normundie in fe Of alle kynges of France.

15 c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, X. 976.        Schyr Amer hecht he suld it haiff in hyr Till hald in fe, and othir landis to, Off king Eduuard, so he wald pass him to.

16 1491.  Act 7 Hen. VII., c. 12 § 5. That every recovery so had be as gode … as if the King were seised of the premises in his demesne as of fee.

17 1494.  Fabyan, Chron., VI. ccxvii. 236. To … holde it [the lande] of hym as in fee.

18 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xx. 305. Sith wee hold all things of him in fee, wee owe him fealtie and homage; sith he prouideth all things for vs, we ought to call vpon him in all our doings and in all our necessities.

19 1852.  Miss Yonge, Cameos (1877), II. v. 57. The truce ended in 1354; and Edward offered to conclude a lasting peace, and renounce his pretensions to the French crown, if the sovereignty of the provinces he now held in fee were made over to him.

20   2.  Common Law. An estate of inheritance in land. Also in phrases as in 1 b. (A fee is either a FEE-SIMPLE or a FEE-TAIL; but in fee is usually = ‘in fee-simple.’)

21   In Eng. Law theoretically identical with sense 1, all landed property being understood to be held feudally of the Crown. In the U.S. the holder of the fee is in theory as well as in fact the absolute owner of the land.

22 1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 700.        Of Coldinghame the baronie he gaif To Durhame kirk in heretage and fie.

23 1638.  Coke, On Litt., III. iv. § 293. 189. It is to be vnderstood that when it is said … that a man is seised in fee … it shall be intended in fee simple.

24 1764.  Burn, Poor Laws, 184. To purchase lands in fee, near the middle of the district, with a certain number of acres; and thereon to build houses for the use of the poor: the charges of the purchase and building to be paid by money to be given by parliament.

25 1809.  J. Marshall, Const. Opin. (1839), 126. Peck in this deed covenanted that Georgia, at the time her patent issued, was legally the owner in fee of the land in question, subject only to the extinguishment of the Indian title.

26 1818.  Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), I. 160. If a woman, tenant in tail general, makes a feoffment in fee, and takes back an estate in fee, and marries, has issue, and dies; the issue may in a formedon recover the land against his father. Ibid., VI. 265. Here the fee was expressly given to the trustees.

27 1827.  Jarman, Powell’s Devises, II. 149. An estate of which the devisor was mortgagee in fee.

28 1844.  Williams, Real Prop. (1879), 43. A fee may now be said to mean an estate of inheritance.

29 1858.  Polson, Law & L., 197. Seized in fee.

30   b.  fig. esp. in phrase To hold in fee, to hold as one’s absolute and rightful possession.

31 a. 1553.  Udall, Royster D., III. iv. (Arb.), 52.        For, one madde propretie these women haue in fey, When ye will, they will not: will not ye? then will they.

32 1639.  G. Daniel, Ecclus. xxiv. 64. My ffee [A.V. inheritance] Is sweeter then Virgin-Combes.

33 a. 1674.  Milton, Sonnet xii. Which after held the sun and moon in fee.

34 1802.  Wordsw., On Extinction Venet. Rep. Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee.

35 1846.  Trench, Mirac., Introd. (1862), 38. Powers … such rather as were evidently his own in fee.

36 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxxix.        ‘More than my brothers are to me,’—     Let this not vex thee, noble heart!     I know thee of what force thou art To hold the costliest love in fee.

37   c.  Base fee: see BASE a. 11. Also (see quot.).

38 1883.  F. Pollock, Land Laws, 108. The curious kind of estate created by the conveyance in fee-simple of a tenant in tail not in possession, without the concurrence of the owners of estates preceding his own, is called a base fee.

39   d.  In s.w. dialect. (See quots.)

40 c. 1630.  Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 91 (1810), 87. This town [Bradninch] consisteth of three parts, the fee, the manor, and the borough; the fee is of such freeholders and gentlemen as do dwell in Devonshire, and hold lands of the manor of Bradninch.

41 1880.  W. Cornw. Gloss., Fee, freehold property. ‘Our house is fee.’

42   e.  At a pin’s fee: at the value of a pin.

43 1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. iv. 65. I doe not set my life at a pin’s fee.

44 1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VI. XVI. X. 260. The present Editor does not … value the rumour at a pin’s fee.

45   3.  A territory held in fee; a lordship.

46 [1292.  Britton, III. ii. § 1. Qe les seignurs des fez eyent les gardes de lour feez.]

47 1413.  Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, IV. xxvi. (1483), 72. Vnder thy lord god as chyef lord of the fee.

48 c. 1430.  Syr Tryam., 1054.        To a herte he let renne, xij. fosters dyscryed hym then,     That were kepars of that fee.

49 15[?].  Adam Bel, 56, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 162.        Forty fosters of the fe,   These outlawes had y-slaw.

50 1741.  T. Robinson, Gavelkind, v. 49. The Tenements within the Fee were not departible.

51 1851.  Turner, Dom. Archit., II. Introd. 20. It [the castle] was the chief place of his honour or fee.

52 1869.  Lowell, Singing Leaves, 84.        My lute and I are lords of more   Than thrice this kingdom’s fee.

53   transf.  13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 960. Þat folk þat in þose fees [cities of the Plain] lenged.

54 c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., VI. ii. 49.        Sum hethyn man, or herytyk Mycht wsurpe Crystyn feys.

55   † 4.  a. The heritable right to an office of profit, granted by a superior lord and held on condition of feudal homage. Only in phrases in, of to fee. b. The heritable right to a pension or revenue similarly granted. Obs.

56   a.  [1292.  Britton, I. xii. § 9. Et defendoms a touz ceux qi cleyment aver garde des prisouns en fee.]

57 1375.  Barbour, Bruce, XI. 456.        And schir robert of keth that wes Marshall of all the host of fee.

58 c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, VII. 1026.        In heretage gaiff him office to fee Off all Straithern and schirreiff off the toun.

59 1670.  Blount, Law Dict., s.v. The word Fee is sometimes used … for a perpetual right incorporeal; as to have the keeping of Prisons … in Fee.

60 1700.  trans. Charter of Edw. I., in Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 820. No Forester … who is not a Forester in Fee … shall take Chiminage.

61   b.  [1292.  Britton, II. x. § 2. Une autre manere de purchaz est que home fet de annuel fee de deners ou de autre chose en fee.]

62 1823.  Crabb, Technol. Dict., Fee … a rent or annuity granted to one, and his heirs, which is a fee personal.

63   † 5.  Homage rendered, or fealty promised, by a vassal to a superior. Also, employment, service.

64 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 145.        Þe moneth of Nouembre, after Alhalwemesse, Þat wele is to remembre, com kyng William alle fresse, Batand to Canterbiri, & þer ȝald him his fee.

65 1486.  Certificate, in Surtees Misc. (1890), 49. I … accept hyme to be of my fee and counesell.

66 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., VI. x. 21.        Are Venus Damzels, all within her fee, But differing in honour and degree.

67   † b.  To be at a, in fee of to, with: to be in the pay or service of, under an obligation to; hence, to be in league with. Also, to have (one) in fee: to retain, hold in one’s service. Obs.

68 1529.  S. Fish, Supplic. Beggars, 8. Are not all the lerned men in your realme in fee with theim?

69 1590.  Webbe, Trav. (Arb.), 34. At my comming ouer into Englande from Rome, I was faine to steal away, beeing then in yeerely fee to the King of Spaine, to be one of his chiefest Gunners.

70 1600.  Holland, Livy, XLII. v. (1609), 1118. In fee as it were with him, in regard of many courtesies and gracious favours received at his hands.

71 1633.  Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 324. Have taken the more liberty to your leudnesse hereupon, as if ye were at a fee with death and hell.

72 1703.  T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 208. Some of those Bricklayers that are in Fee with ’em.

73 1756.  Nugent, Gr. Tour, IV. 33. Order the postilion to drive to the hôtel you intend to lodge at; otherwise he will endeavour to carry you to his own favourite house, which has him in fee.

74   II.  Denoting a payment or gift.

75   [This branch is commonly referred to FEE sb.1, but the AF. is fee, and the med.L. feodum, both in England and on the continent; cf. It. fio. The two sbs., however, being coincident in form, were certainly confused, and in many instances it makes no difference to the sense whether the word is taken as sb.1 or as sb.2 Senses 6–8 seem to have been influenced by branch I; sense 9 agrees with a continental use of feodum.)

76   † 6.  A tribute or offering to a superior. Obs.

77 c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 266.        And thus this ilke god, Morpheus, May winne of me mo fees thus Than ever he wan.

78 a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 4466. Þan fall ȝe flatt on þe fold, · with fees þaim adoures. Ibid., 5139. Foure hundreth fellis ȝit to fee.

79 1602.  Dekker, Satiro-mastix, Wks. 1873, I. 253.                        I heere present, My oath vpon the knee of duety: knees Are made for Kings, they are the subjects Fees.

80   7.  The sum which a public officer (? originally, one who held his office ‘in fee’: see 4 a) is authorized to demand as payment for the execution of his official functions.

81 [1292.  Britton, I. xii. § 7. Ne ja par defaute de tiel fee ne soit nul prisoun plus detenu.]

82 c. 1450.  Bk. Curtasye, 598, in Babees Bk. (1868), 319. Sex pons þer-fore to feys he takes.

83 1494.  Nottingham Rec., III. 279. To the Chaumberlens for theire fese xxvjs. viijd.

84 1529.  Act 21 Hen. VIII., c. 5 § 6. Any such Ordynary … shall nat in any wyse take for the same above the fees lymytted by this Acte.

85 1546.  Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 25. To the Auditor for his Fee xiiijs. iiijs.

86 1581.  Lambarde, Eirenarcha, III. i. (1588), 333. Two Justices of Peace, may license such as be delivered out of Gaoles, to beg for their fees.

87 1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. ii. 217. I should rob the Deaths-man of his Fee.

88 1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., 2. The fie of the seale, ten pounds.

89 1680.  Tryal & Sent. Eliz. Cellier, 18. I came to pay the Clerk of the Council his Fees … I was obliged to pay the Fees myself at the Council.

90 1727.  Swift, Descr. Morning.        The turnkey now his flock returning sees, Duly let out a-nights to steal for fees.

91 1817.  W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 936. The captain had paid an extra fee in order to procure his clearances.

92 1858.  Kingsley, Poems. Earl Haldan’s Dau., 6.        The locks of six princesses Must be my marriage-fee.

93 1868.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), II. x. 471. The greedy secular clergy refused the first sacrament except on payment of a fee.

94   b.  Extended to denote the remuneration paid or due to a lawyer, a physician, or (in recent use) any professional man, a director of a public company, etc. for an occasional service.

95 1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 16. The lawiers I would wish to take lesse fees of their clients.

96 1644.  Milton, Educ., Wks. (1847), 99/1. Litigious terms, fat contentions, and flowing fees.

97 1655.  Culpepper, Riverius, Epigram.                        They who spend Their Life in Visits, and whose Labors end In taking Fees, and giving Paper-scrowls.

98 1727–38.  Gay, Fables, II. ix. 21. The fee gives eloquence its spirit.

99 1791.  Boswell, Johnson, an. 1784 (1847), 800/2. Physicians … generously attended him without accepting any fees.

100 1802.  Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. vi. 34. What fee, doctor … shall I give you for saving his life?

101 1863.  P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 48. Lawyers, again, have been known to allow easy clients to die intestate who never wished to do so, and few of them are proof against a fee, although the suit may be the most unnatural or oppressive that could be thought of.

102 1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Voy. Eng., Wks. II. 11. The remuneration [for public lectures] was equivalent to the fees at that time paid in this country for the like services.

103   c.  The sum paid for admission to an examination, a society, etc.; or for entrance to a public building. Also, admission-, court, entrance-fee.

104 1389.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 88. He schal … payen his fees and sythyn for hys entres.

105 1891.  Cambridge Univ. Calendar, 22. A fee of £2 2s. is paid to the Common Chest by every student on each admission to a Special Examination.

106 1893.  Oxford Univ. Calendar, 30. University Museum. Open … to visitors (without fee) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

107   d.  Terminal payments for instruction at school.

108 1616.  R. C., Times’ Whistle, IV. 1428.        For not the meanes of taking our degrees Are quite exempt from bribes; for duble fees A dunce may turne a Doctour.

109 1841.  W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 358. In the country, however, private schools are taught, for small fees, by a good many of the priests, and a few in the towns by old women.

110 1876.  J. Grant, History of the Burgh Schools of Scotland, II. 467. In 1746 the council [of Kirkcaldy] enact that the fees shall be paid quarterly on each Thursday of the four fairs of Ayr for the current quarter.

111   † 8.  A perquisite allowed to an officer or servant (esp. a forester, a cook or scullion). Fee of a bullock: see quot. 1730. Obs.

112 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 945.        Thus hath here lord, the god of love, hem payed Here wages and here fees for here servise.

113 1474.  Househ. Ord. (1790), 32. The larders hath to theire fees the neckes of mutton, twoe fingers from the heade.

114 [a. 1490.  Botoner, Itin. (Nasmith, 1778), 371. Et ipse emebat de cocis lez feez.]

115 1486.  Bk. St. Albans, F iv a.        The Right shulder … Yeueth to the foster for that is his fee.

116 1557.  Order of Hospitalls, H ij b. The Butler … You shall have no manner of Fees, but your ordinarie wages.

117 1579.  Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 831/2. I see vesselles there that serue to no purpose but to gather vp the ofscouringes or fees of the kitchen.

118 1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. i. 23. Sink. I, heere’s a Deere, whose skin’s a Keepers Fee.

119 1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 833. Certain young men … snatcht it [food] hastily up as their fees, and like greedie Harpies ravened it downe in a moment.

120 1730–6.  Bailey (folio), The Fee of a Bullock, the bones of a bullocks thighs and shoulders, having the meat cut off (but not clean) for salting for victualling ships.

121   † b.  A warrior’s share of spoil; a dog’s share of the game. Obs.

122 c. 1340.  Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, 1622.        He calde, & he com gayn, His feeȝ þer for to fonge.

123 14[?].  Venery de Twety, in Rel. Ant., I. 153. The houndes shal be rewardid with the nekke and with the bewellis, with the fee.

124 1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 697. The hare being killed, it will be good to giue the dogs their fees, the better to incourage them, and to cause them with much more ioy to hunt in that place afterward.

125   transf.  1656.  B. Harris, trans. Parival’s The History of This Iron Age, 101. The Clergy hath ever served as Fee, or prey to the seditious.

126   † c.  Any allotted portion. Obs.

127 1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 73. Giue sheepe to their fees the mistle of trees. Ibid., 78. In pruning and trimming all maner of trees, reserue to ech cattel their properly fees.

128 1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Discharge, v. Onely the present is thy part and fee.

129 1642.  H. More, Song of Soul, I. II. xiii.        There Psyche’s feet impart a smaller fee Of gentle warmth.

130   9.  A fixed salary or wage; the pay of a soldier. Also pl. Wages. Obs. exc. Sc. or Hist.

131 c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xv. 170. He that kepethe him [a sacred ox] hath every day grete fees.

132 1533.  Gau, Richt Vay (1888), 16. Thay that haldis thair seruandis feis fra thayme.

133 1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 133. Men of weir that wald tak meit and fie.

134 1637–50.  Row, The History of the Kirk of Scotland (1842), 149. Mr. Robert Bruce, servant to the King of Spaine and Duke of Parme, hes 40 crounes monethlie for his intertainment, and 500 crounes of fie, for which he promises thankfulness, diligence, fidelitie.

135 1686.  G. Stuart, Joco-Ser. Disc., 26.        Ye shall nev’r crave twice of me The smallest Penny of your Fee.

136 1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), II. 194.        Bag and baggage on her back,   Her fee and bowntith in her lap.

137 1773.  Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., III. vi. § 7. 507. Servants fees … being given that they may maintain themselves in a condition suitable to their service … cannot be arrested.

138 a. 1810.  Tannahill, Poems (1846), 103.        Dear lassie, keep thy heart aboon,   For I hae wair’d my winter’s fee, I’ve coft a bonnie silken gown,   To be a bridal gift for thee.

139 1878.  Simpson, Sch. Shaks., I. 10. Holding the post of King’s standard-bearer, with the fee of six shillings and eight pence a day.

140   10.  † a. A prize, a reward. Obs.

141 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 2400. That the fairest of þo fele shull þat fe haue.

142 c. 1470.  Henry the Minstrel, Wallace, XI. 459.        The Butler said; ‘I wald fayn spek with the.’ Wallace ansuerd; ‘Thow may for litill fe.’

143 a. 1541.  Wyatt, in Tottell’s Misc. (Arb.), 81.        I see that chance hath chosen me Thus secretely to liue in paine: And to an other geuen the fee Of all my losse to haue the gayn.

144 1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 3. Yet is the paine thereof much greater then the fee.

145 1605.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. II., The Fathers, 91.          Mine Abram, said the Lord, dear Abraham, Thy God, thy King, thy Fee, thy Fence I am.

146 1633.  G. Herbert, Temple, Businesse, viii. Two deaths had been thy fee.

147   b.  An occasional gift, a gratuity, given in recognition of services rendered. Phrase, without fee or reward.

148 a. 1592.  Greene, George-a-Greene, Wks. (Rtldg.), 267/1.        Here, Will Perkins, take my purse, fetch me A stand of ale, and set [it] in the market-place, That all may drink that are athirst this day; For this is for a fee to welcome Robin Hood To Bradford town.

149 1768.  Foote, Devil on 2 Sticks, II. It is a part of the world where a fee is never refused.

150 1832.  W. Irving, Alhambra, II. 90. ‘God forbid,’ said he, ‘that I should ask fee or reward for doing a common act of humanity.’

151 1863.  Hawthorne, Our Old Home (1884), 145. The attendants … expect fees on their own private account.

152 1873.  Tristram, Moab, xv. 251. One woman bringing with her the not unacceptable fee of a kid-skin of fresh butter.

153   † c.  In bad sense: A bribe. Obs.

154 1549.  Coverdale, Erasm. Par. 2 Pet. ii. 15. Being corrupt with wicked fee, he went about to curse them, whom God was mercifull vnto: & couetousnes brought him into so great a blyndnes.

155 1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 169.        Drawes those heauen-mouing pearles from his poor eies, Which heauen shall take in nature of a fee.

156 c. 1643.  Milton, Sonnet, To Lady Margaret Ley. Unstain’d with gold or fee.

157   III.  attrib. and Comb.

158   11.  General relations (in senses 7–10). a. attrib., as fee-system, -table, -theatre. b. objective, as fee-seeker; fee-catching vbl. sb.; fee-checking, -gathering (also vbl. sb.), -paying, -yielding adjs. c. instrumental, as fee-fed adj.

159 1810.  Bentham, The Elements of the Art of Packing, vii. (1821), 184. The order … a mere scrap of spoilt and wasted paper:—a mere pretence for *fee-catching. Ibid., 187. Excited by so *fee-checking an innovation. Ibid. (1808), Sc. Reform, 71. *Fee-fed lawyers always excepted. Ibid., 9. The Technical or *Fee-gathering system.

160 1828.  Edin. Rev., XLVIII. 468. Fee-gathering is the real foundation on which the laws of England have been framed!

161 1832.  Austin, Jurispr. (1879), II. xxxix. 703. The profession would not be merely venal and fee-gathering as at present, but, as in ancient Rome, would be the road to honours and political importance.

162 1893.  Daily News, 12 July, 5/1. *Fee-paying schools. Ibid. (1890), 7 June, 2/1. Lawyers and other *fee-seekers. Ibid. (1891), 23 Nov., 2/1. The *fee system seems to me one of the most outrageous and indefensible.

163 1812.  J. Quincy, in Life, 244. Can we deny the justice of such severity of remark, if, instead of adopting a scale of thought and a standard of action proportionate to the greatness of our trust and the multiplied necessities of the people, we bring to our task the mere measures of professional industry, and mete out contributions for national safety by our *fee-tables, our yard-sticks, and our gill-pots?

164 1808.  Bentham, Sc. Reform, 8. Sale of a *fee-yielding office for full value.

165   12.  Special comb. † fee-buck, ? a buck received as a perquisite; fee-estate (see quot.); fee-expectant: see EXPECTANT a. 3; † fee-Gloucester, a Cornish tenure; fee-fund (see quot.); † fee-grief, a grief that has a particular owner; fee-liege (see LIEGE); † fee-Morton, a Cornish tenure (cf. fee-Gloucester); † fee-penny, an earnest of a bargain; † fee-pie (in humorous phrase to eat fee pie, ? to receive bribes); fee-royal (see ROYAL). Also FEE-FARM, FEE-SIMPLE, FEE-TAIL.

166 a. 1643.  W. Cartwright, Siege, IV. ii. You … Put of your Mercer with your *Fee-buck for That season.

167 1775.  Ash, *Fee-estate, lands or tenements for which some service … is paid to the chief lord.

168 1651.  trans. Kitchin’s Jurisdictions (ed. 2), 301. If it [land in frank-marriage] were given to them in taile to have to them and their heirs, they have taile and *fee expectant.

169 1861.  W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., *Fee-fund; the name applied to the dues of Court payable on the tabling of summonses, the extracting of decrees, &c., out of which the the clerks and other officers of the Court are paid.

170 1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 38 b. They pay in most places onely fee-Morton releefes which is after fiue markes the whole Knights fee … whereas that of *fee-Gloucester is fiue pound.

171 1605.  Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 196.                    Is it a *Fee-griefe Due to some single brest?

172 1695.  G. Ridpath (title), Sir T. Craig’s Scotland’s Soreraignty Asserted … against those who maintain that Scotland is a Feu, or *Fee-Liege of England.

173 1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 38 b. *Fee-Morton … so called of Iohn Earle first of Morton, then of Cornwall, and lastly King of this Land.

174 1552.  T. Gresham, in Strype, Eccl. Mem., II. App. C. 147. When the Kings Majesties father did first begin … to take up mony upon interest … he took his *feepeny in merchandize.

175 a. 1640.  Day, Peregr. Schol. (1881), 72. Saietng he was a wise Justice to eate *fee-pie with his clarke.

176 1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 145/2. He gaf to them of that hows the *fee Ryall of that buscage.

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