A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., permanently) under common law, whereas the highest possible form of ownership is a "fee simple absolute", which is without limitations on the land's use (such as qualifiers or conditions that disallow certain uses of the land or subject the vested interest to termination).
From the start of the Norman period, when feudalism was introduced to England, the tenant or "holder" of a fief could not alienate (sell) it from the possession of his overlord.
However, a tenant could separate a parcel of the land and grant it as a subordinate fief to his own sub-tenant, a process known as sub-enfeoffing or "subinfeudation".
Traditionally, fee tail was created by words of grant such as "to N. and the male heirs of his body", which would restrict those who could inherit the property.
Rules requiring words of general inheritance to create fee simple by conveyance have been abolished by statute in the United States.
A fee simple absolute is the highest estate permitted by law, and it gives the holder full possessory rights and obligations now and in the future.
Fee simple determinable was generally preferred by courts in the common law of the early United States.
Recently, that trend has reversed, and most courts in the United States will find a fee simple subject to condition subsequent in situations where the conveying document's language is unclear.
The claim that no rent or similar obligations are due from the owner of property in fee simple is only partially true.
In the United States, fee simple owners are usually subject to property tax and the revenue generated is directed to the municipality's general fund.
Real estate owned as a condominium is usually similarly owned in fee simple, but typically subject to rules in the declaration of condominium or created by the condominium association, such as paying required monthly fees for maintaining the property's common areas; however, these are generally treated legally as covenants running with the land (contracts binding on the possessors of real property) imposing an affirmative duty to pay money rather than as rent for property held in fee simple.
Simple – in the unconstrained sense: The English word fee ultimately goes back to the Indo-European root *peku, which refers to moveable wealth, that is, cattle.