FEDERAL, government. This term is commonly used to express a league or compact between two or more states.
2. In the United States the central government of the Union is federal. The constitution was adopted "to form a more perfect union" among the states, for the purpose of self-protection and for the promotion of their mutual happiness.
FEE, FEODUM or FEUDUM, estates. From the French, fief. A fee is an estate which may continue forever. The word fee is explained to signify that the land, or other subject of property, belongs to its owner, and is transmissible, in the case of an individual, to those whom the law appoints to succeed him, under the appellation of heirs; and in the case of corporate bodies, to those who are to take on themselves the corporate function; and from the manner in which the body is to be continued, are denominated successors. 1 Co. Litt. 1, 271, b; Wright's Ten. 147, 150; 2 Bl. Com. 104. 106; Bouv. Inst. Index h. t.
2. Estates in fee are of several sorts, and have different denominations, according to their several natures and respective qualities. They 'may with propriety be divided into, 1. Fees simple. 2 . Fees determinable. 3. Fees qualified. 4. Fees conditional and 5. Fees tail.
3. - 1. A fee simple is an estate inlands or tenements which, in reference to the ownership of individuals, is not restrained to any heirs in particular, nor subject to any condition or collateral determination except the laws of escheat and the canons of descent, by which it may, be qualified, abridged or defeated. In other words, an estate in fee simple absolute, is an estate limited to a person and his heirs general or indefinite. Watk. Prin. Con. 76. And the omission of the word `his' will not vitiate the estate, nor are the words "and assigns forever" necessary to create it, although usually added. Co. Litt. 7, b 9, b; 237, b Plowd. 28, b; 29, a; Bro. Abr. Estates, 4. 1 Co. Litt. 1, b; Plowd. 557 2 Bl. Com. 104, 106 Hale's Analysis, 74. The word fee simple is sometimes used by the best writers on the law as contrasted with estates tail. 1 Co. Litt. 19. In this sense, the term comprehends all other fees as well as the estate, properly, and in strict propriety of technical language, peculiarly' distinguished by this appellation.
4. - 2. A determinable fee is an estate which may continue forever. Plowd. 557; Shep. Touch. 97. It is a quality of this estate while it falls under this denomination, that it is liable to be determined by some act or event, expressed on its limitation, to circumscribe its continuance, or inferred by the law as bounding its extent. 2 Bl. Com. 109. Limitations to a man. and his heirs, till the marriage of such. a person shall take place; Cro. Jac. 593; 10 Vin. Abr. 133; till debts shall be paid; Fearne, 187 until a minor shall attain the age of twenty-one years 3 Atk. 74 Ambler, 204; 9 Mod. 28 10 Vin. Abr. 203. Feariae, 342; are instances of such a determinable fee.
5. - 3. Qualified fee, is an interest given on its, first limitation, to a man and to certain of his heirs, and not to extend to all of them generally, nor confined to the issue of his body. A limitation to a man and his heirs on the part of his father, affords an example of this species of estate. Litt. 254 1 Inst. 27, a 220; 1 Prest. on Estates, 449.
6. - . A conditional fee, in the more general acceptation of the term, is when, to the limitation of an estate a condition is annexed, which renders the estate liable to be defeated. 10 Rep. 95, b. In this application of the term, either a determinable or a qualified fee may at the same time be a conditional fee. An estate limited to a man and his heirs, to commence on the performance of a condition, is also frequently described by this appellation. Prest. on East. 476; Fearne, 9. 7. - 5. As to fee-tail, see Tail.
FEE FARM, Eng. law. A perpetual farm or rent. 1 Tho. Co. Litt. 446, n. 5.
FEE FARM RENT, contracts, Eng. law. When the lord, upon the creation of a tenancy, reserves to himself and his heirs, either the rent for which it was before let to farm, or at least one-fourth part of that farm rent, it is called a fee farm rent, because a farm rent is reserved upon a grant in fee. 2 Inst. 44.
FEES, compensation. Certain perquisites allowed by law to officers concerned in the administration of justice, or in the performance of duties required by law, as a recompense for their labor and trouble. Bac. Ab. h. t.; Latch, 18.
2. The term fees differs from costs in this, that the former are, as above mentioned, a recompense to the officer for his services, and the latter, an indemnification to the, party for money laid out and expended in his suit. 11 S. & R. 248; 9 Wheat. 262; See 4 Binn. 267. Vide Costs; Color of office; Exaction; Extortion.
FEIGNED ACTION, practice. An action brought on a pretended right, when the plaintiff has no true cause of action, for some illegal purpose. In a feigned action the words of the writ are true; it differs from false action, in which case the words of the writ are false. Co. Litt. 361, sect. 689. Vide Fictitious action.
FEIGNED issue, pract. An issue brought by consent of the parties, or the direction of a court of equity, or such courts as possess equitable powers, to determine before a jury some disputed matter of fact, which the court has not the power or is unwilling to decide. 3 Bl. Com. 452; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t
FELO DE SE, criminal law. A felon of himself; a self-murderer.
2. To be guilty of this offence, the deceased must have had the will and intention of committing it, or else be committed no crime. As he is beyond the reach of human laws, he cannot be punished; the English law, indeed, attempts to inflict a punishment by a barbarous burial of his body, and by forfeiting to the king the property which he owned, and which would belong to his relations. Hawk. P. C. c. 9; 4 Bl. Com. 189. The charter of privileges granted by William Penn to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, contains the following clause: "If any person, through temptation or melancholy, shall destroy himself, his estate, real and personal, shall, notwithstanding, (descend to his wife and children, or relations, as if he had died a natural death."
FELON, crimes. One convicted and sentenced for a felony.
2. A felon is infamous, and cannot fill any office, or become a witness in any case, unless pardoned, except in cases of absolute necessity, for his own preservation, and defence; as, for example, an affidavit in relation to the irregularity of a judgment in a cause in which he is a party. 2 Salk. R. 461; 2 Str. 1148;. Martin's R. 25; Stark. Ev. part 2, tit. Infamy. As to the effect of a conviction in one state, where the witness is offered in another, see 17 Mass. R. 515 2 Harr. & McHen. R. 120, 378; 1 Harr. & Johns. R. 572. As to the effect upon a copartnership by one of the partners becoming a felon, see 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1493.
FELONIOUSLY, pleadings. This is a technical word which must be introduced into every indictment for a felony, charging the offence to have been committed feloniously; no other word, nor any circumlocution, will supply its place. Com. Dig. Indictment, G 6; Bac. Ab. Indictment, G 1; 2 Hale, 172, 184; Hawk. B. 2. c. 25, s. 55 Cro. C. C. 37; Burn's Just. Indict. ix.; Williams' Just. Indict. iv.-, Cro. Eliz. 193; 5 Co. 121; 1 Chit. Cr. Law, 242.
FELONY, crimes. An offence which occasions a total forfeiture of. either lands or goods, or both, at common law, to which capital or other punishment may be super-added, according to the degree of guilt. 4 Bl. Com, 94, 5; 1 Russ. Cr. *42; 1 Chit. Pract. 14; Co. Litt . 391; 1 Hawk. P. C. c. 37; 5 Wheat. R. 153, 159.
FEMALE. This term denotes the sex which bears young.
2. It is a general rule, that the young of female animals which belong to us, are ours, nam fetus ventrem sequitur. Inst. 2, 1, 19; Dig. 6, 1, 5, 2. The rule is, in general, the same with regard to slaves; but when a female slave comes into. a free state, even without the consent of her master, and is there delivered of a child, the latter is free. Vide Feminine; Gender; Masculine.
FEME, or, more properly,
FEMME. Woman.
2. This word is frequently used in law. Baron and feme, hushand and wife; feme covert, a. married woman; feme sole, a single woman.
3. A feme covert, is a married woman. A feme covert may sue and be sued at law, and will be treated as a feme sole, when the hushand is civiliter mortuus. Bac. Ab. Baron and Feme, M; see article, Parties to Actions, part 1, section l, 7, n. 3; or where, as it has been decided in England, he is an alien and has left the country, or has never been in it. 2 Esp. R. 554; 1 B. & P. 357. And courts of equity will treat a married woman as a, feme sole, so as to enable her to sue or be sued, whenever her hushand has abjured the realm, been transported for felony, or is civilly dead. And when she has a separate property, she may sue her hushand in respect of such property, with the assist ance of a next friend of her own selection. Story, Eq. Pl. 61; Story, Eq . Jur. 1368; and see article, Parties to a suit in equity, 1, n. 2; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
4. Coverture subjects a woman to some duties and disabilities, and gives her some rights and immunities, to which she would not be entitled as a feme sole. These are considered under the articles, Marriage, (q. v.) and Wife. (q. v.)
5. A feme sole trader, is a married woman who trades and deals on her own account, independently of her hushand. By the custom of London, a feme covert, being a sole trader, may sue and be sued in the city courts, as a feme sole, with reference to her transactions in London. Bac. Ab. Baron and Feme, M. 6. In Pennsylvania, where any mariners or others go abroad, leaving their wives at shop-keeping, or to work for their livelihood at any other trade, all such wives are declared to be feme sole traders, with ability to sue and be sued, without naming the hushands. Act of February 22, 1718. See Poth. De la Puissance du Mari, n. 20.
7. By a more recent act, April 11, 1848, of the same state, it is provided, that in all cases where debts may be contracted for necessaries for the support and maintenance of the family of any married woman, it shall be lawful for the creditor, in such case, to institute suit against the hushand and wife for the price of such necessaries, and after obtaining a judgment, have an execution against the hushand alone and if no property of the said hushand be found, the officer executing the said writ shall so return, and thereupon an alias execution may be issued, which may be levied upon and satisfied out of the separate property of the wife, secured to her under the provisions of the first section of this act. Provided, That judgment shall not be rendered against the wife, in such joint action, unless it shall have be proved that the debt sued for in such action, was contracted by the wife, or incurred for articles necessary for the support of the family of the said hushand and wife.
FEMININE. What belongs to the female sex.
2. When the feminine is used, it is generally confined to females; as, if a man bequeathed all his mares to his son, his horses would not pass. Vide: 3 Brev. R. 9 Gender; Man; Masculine.
FENCE. A building or erection between two contiguous estates, so as to divide them; or on the same estate, so as to divide one part from another.
2. Fences are regulated by the local laws. In general, fences on boundaries are to be built on the line, and the expense, when made no more expensively than is required by the law, is borne equally between the parties. See the following cases on the subject. 2 Miles, 337, 395; 2 Greenl. 72; 11 Mass. 294; 3 Wend. 142; 2 Metc. 180; 15 Conn. 526 2 Miles, 447; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.
3. A partition fence is presumed to be the common property of both owners of the land. 8 B. & C. 257, 259, note a. When built upon the land of one of them, it is his; but if it were built equally upon the land of both, at their joint expense, each would be the owner in severalty of the part standing on his own land. 5 Taunt. 20; 2 Greenl. Ev. 617.
FEOD. The same as fief. Vide Fief or Feud.
FEOFFMENT, conveyancing. A gift of any corporeal hereditaments to another. It operates by transmutation of possession, and it is essential to its completion that the seisin be passed. Watk. Prin. Conv. 183. This term also signifiesthe instrument or deed by which such hereditament is conveyed.
2. This instrument was used as one of the earliest modes of conveyance of the common law. It signified, originally, the grant of a feud or fee; but it came, in time, to signify the grant of a free inheritance in fee, respect being had to the perpetuity of the estate granted, rather than to the feudal tenure. The feoffment was, likewise, accompanied by livery of seisin. The conveyance, by feoffment, with livery of seisin, has become infrequent, if not obsolete, in England; and in this country it has not been used in practice. Cruise, Dig. t. 32, c. 4. s. 3; Touchs. c. 9; 2 Bl. Corn. 20; Co. Litt. 9; 4 Kent, Com. 467; Perk.. c. 3; Com. Dig. h. t.; 12 Vin. Ab. 167; Bac. Ab. h. t. in pr.; Doct. Plac. 271; Dane's Ab. c. 104, a. 3, s. 4. He who gives or enfeoffs is called the feoffor; and the person enfeoffed is denominated the feoffee. 2 Bl. Com. 20. See 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 2045, note.
FERAE. Wild, savage, not tame.
FERAE BESTIAE. Wild beasts. See Animals; Ferae naturce.
FERAE NATURAE. Of a wild nature.
2. This term is used to designate animals which are not usually tamed. Such animals belong to the person who has captured them only while they are in his power for if they regain their liberty his property in them instantly ceases, unless they have animum revertendi, which is to be known only by their habit of returning. 2 Bl. Com. 386; 3 Binn. 546; Bro. Ab. Propertie, 37; Com. Dig. Biens, F; 7 Co. 17, b; 1 Chit. Pr. 87; Inst. 2, 1, 15; 13 Vin. Ab. 207.
3. Property in animals ferae naturae is not acquired by hunting them and pursuing them; if, therefore, another person kill such animal in the sight of the pursuer, he has a right to appropriate it to his own use. 3 Caines, 175. But if the pursuer brings the animal within his own control, as by entrapping it, or wounding it mortally, so as to render escape impossible, it then belongs to him. Id. Though if he abandons it, another person may afterwards acquire property in the animal. 20 John. 75. The owner of land has a qualified property in animals ferae naturae, when, in consequence of their inability and youth, they cannot go away. See Y. B. 12 H. VIII., 9 B, 10 A 2 Bl. Com. 394; Bac. Ab. Game. Vide Whelp.
FERM or FEARM. By this ancient word is meant land, fundus; (q. v.) and, it is said, houses and tenements may pass by it. Co. Litt. 5 a.
FERRY. A place where persons and things are taken across a river or other stream in boats or other vessels, for hire. 4 N. S. 426; S. C. 3 Harr. Lo. R. 341.
2. In England a ferry is considered a franchise which cannot be set up without the king's license. In most, perhaps all of the United States, ferries are regulated by statute.
3. The termini of a ferry are at the water's edge. 15 Pick. R. 254 and see 8 Greenl. R. 367; 4 John. Ch. R., 161; 2 Porter, R. 296; 7 Pick. R. 448; 2 Car. Law Repos. 69; 2 Dev. R. 403; 1 Murph. 279 1 Hayw. R. 457; Vin. Ab. h. t.; Com. Dig. Piscary B: 6 B. & Cr. 703; 12 East, R. 333; 1 Bail. R. 469; 3 Watts, R. 219 1 Yeates, R. 167; 9 S. & R. 26.
FERRYMAN. One employed in taking persons across a river or other stream, in boats or other contrivances at a ferry. The owner of a ferry is not considered a ferryman, when it is rented and in the possession of a tenant. Minor, R. 366.
2. Ferrymen are considered as common carriers, and are therefore the legal judges to decide when it is proper to pass over or not. 1 M'Cord, R. 444 Id. 157 1 N. & M. 19; 2 N. & M. 17. They are to regulate how the property to be taken across shall be put in their boats or flats; 1 M'Cord 157; and as soon as the carriage is fairly on the drop or slip of a fat, although driven by the owner's servant, it is in possession of the ferryman, and he is answerable. 1 M'Cord's R. 439.
FESTINUM REMEDIUM. A speedy remedy.
2. This is said of those cases where the remedy for the redress of an injury is given without any unnecessary delay. Bac. Ab. Assise, A. The action of Dower is festinum remedium, and so is Assise.
FETTERS. A sort of iron put on the legs of malefactors, or persons accused of crimes.
2. When a prisoner is brought into court to plead he shall not be put in fetters. 2 Inst. 315; 3 Inst. 34; 2 Hale, 119; Hawk. b. 21 c. 28, s. 1 Kel. 10; 1 Chitty's Cr. Law, 417. An officer having arrested a defendant on a civil suit, or a person accused of a crime, has no right to handcuff him unless it is necessary, or he has attempted to make his escape. 4 B. & C. 596; 10 Engl. C. L. Rep. 412, S. C.
FEUD. This word, in Scotland, signifies a combination of kindred to revenge injuries or affronts done to any of their blood. Vide Fief.
FEUDA. In the early feudal times grants were made, in the first place, only during the pleasure of the grantor, and called muncra; (q. v.) afterwards for life, called beneficia; (q. v.) and, finally, they were extended to the vassal and his sons, and then they acquired the name offeudal. Dalr. Feud. Pr. 199.
FEUDAL. A term applied to whatever concerned a feud; as feudal law: feudal rights.
FEUDAL LAW. By this phrase is understood a political system which placed men and estates under hierarchical and multiplied distinctions of lords and vassals. The principal features of this system were the following.
2. The right to all lands was vested in the sovereign. These were, parcelled out among the great men of the nation by its chief, to be held of him, so that the king had the Dominum directum, and the grantee or vassal, had what was called Dominum utile. It was a maxim nulle terre sans seigneur. These tenants were bound to perform services to the king, generally of a military character. These great lords again granted parts of the lands. they thus acquired, to other inferior vassals, who held under them, and were bound to perform services to the lord.
3. The principles of the feudal law will be found in Littleton's Tenures Wright's Tenures; 2 Blackstone's Com. c. 5 Dalrymple's History of Feudal Property; Sullivan's Lectures; Book of Fiefs; Spellman, Treatise of Feuds and Tenures; Le Grand Coutumier; the Salic Laws; The Capitularies; Les Establissements de St. touis; Assizes de Jerusalem; Poth. Des Fiefs. Merl. Rep. Feodalite; Dalloz, Dict. Feodalit 6; Guizot, Essais sur I'Histoire de France, Essai 5eme.
4. In the United States the feudal law never was in its full vigor, though some of its principles are still retained. "Those principles are so interwoven with every part of our jurisprudence," says Ch. J. Tilghman, 3 S. & R. 447, " that to attempt to eradicate them would be to destroy the whole. They are massy stones worked into the foundation of our legal edifice. Most of the inconveniences attending them, have been removed, and the few that remain can be easily removed, by acts of the legislature." See 3 Kent, Com. 509, 4th ed.
FIAR, Scotch law. He whose property is burdened with a life rent. Ersk. Pr. of L. Scot. B. 2, t. 9, s. 23.
FIAT, practice. An order of a judge, or of an officer, whose authority, to be signified by his signature, is necessary to authenticate the particular acts.