Fee Simple - Etymology

Etymology

Fee - A right in law to the use of land; i.e. a fief. Simple - in the unconstrained sense:

  1. without limit to the inheritance of heirs;
  2. unrestricted as to transfer of ownership.

The English word fee ultimately goes back to the Indo-European root peku, which refers to moveable wealth, that is, cattle. The Latin word pecunia, money, also comes from this root and becomes pecuniary in English. The root appears in Modern German as Vieh, cattle, beast.

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