FEE-SIMPLE. An estate of inheritance. Co. Litt. 1 b; 2 Bla. Corn. 106 The word simple adds no meaning to the word fee standing by itself. But it excludes all quali fication or restriction as to the persons who may inherit it as heirs, thus distinguishing it from a fee-tail, as well as from an estate which, though inheritable, is subject to con ditions or collateral determination. 1 Washb. R. P. 51; Wright, Ten. 146; 1 Prest. Est. 420; Littleton § 1.
It is the largest possible estate which a man can have, being an absolute estate. It is There lands are given to a man and to his heirs absolutely, without any end or limita tion put to the estate. Plowd. 557; 2 Bla. Com. 106; Chal. R. P. 191. See Brackett v. Ridlon, 54 Me. 426 ; Haynes v. Bourn, 42 Vt. 686.
Where the granting clause of a deed con veys an estate in fee-simple, a subsequent proviso that the grantee shall not convey without the consent of the grantor is void as a restriction or alienation, general as to time and person, and therefore repugnant to the estate created; Murray v. Green, 64 Cal. 363, 28 Pac. 118; Wilkins v. Norman, 139 N. C. 40, 51 S. E. 797, 111 Am. St. Rep. 767.
In modern estates the terms fee, fee-sim ple, and fee-simple absolute are substantially synonymous; Jecko v. Taussig, 45 Mo. 170.
The word "heirs" is necessary, in a convey ance, to the creation of a fee-simple, and no expression of intention, in substituted terms, will have an equivalent effect; Sisson v. Don nelly, 36 N. J. L. 434 ; Edwardsville R. Co. v. Sawyer, 92 Ill. 377; Merritt v. Disney, 48 Md. 344; but see Cole v. Woolen Mfg. Co., 54 N. H. 290; Cromwell v. Winchester, 2 Head (Tenn.) 389; but it is otherwise in a will ; Hill v. Hill, 74 Pa. 173, 15 Am. Rep. 545 ; Ar nold v. Brown, 7 R. I. 188.
In the absence of statute, a conveyance of property to a trustee, with power to. sell and convey the fee, vests in such trustee an es tate in fee-simple, without the use of the word "heirs ;" Ewing v. Shanahan, 113 Mo. 188, 20 S. W. 1065. The common-law rule that a fee-simple cannot be conveyed without the word "heirs" does not apply to an excep tion, or an easement appurtenant to other land of the grantor or of the right to take profit in the soil ; Engel v. Ayer, 85 Me. 448, 27 Atl. 352.