Fee - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition fee

Definition :

Fee [fr. feoh, Sax.; fee, Dan., cattle; feudum, Med. Lat.; feu, Scot.], property peculiar; reward or recom-pense for services. See FEES. Also an estate of inheritance divided into there species: (1) fee-simple absolute; (2) qualified or conditional or base fee, including (3) fee-tail, formerly fee-conditional. By the (English) Law of Properties Act, 1925, s. 1, a fee-simple absolute in possession and a term of years absolute are the only estates in land capable of being conveyed or created at law. All other estates in land take effect as equitable interests [ibid., s. 1 (4)]. See FEE-SIMPLE.

A charge for labour or services esp. professional services; Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 629.

A 'fee' is generally defined to be a charge for a special service rendered to individuals by some governmental agency. The distinction between a tax and a fee lies primarily in the fact that a tax is levied as a part of a common burden, while a fee is a payment for a special benefit or privilege, Commissioner, Hindu Religious Endowments, Madras v. Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of Shirur Mutt, AIR 1954 SC 282: (1954) SCR 1005. [Constitution of India, Act, 265]

A fee is levied essentially for services rendered and as such there is an element of quid pro quo between the person who pays the fee and the public authority which imposes it, Collector of Customs v. K. Ganga Setty, AIR 1963 SC 1319: (1963) 2 SCR 277.

A fee is generally defined to be a charge for a special service rendered to individuals by the Government or some other agency like a local authority or statutory corporation. The amount of fee levied is supposed to be based on the expenses incurred by the Government or the agency in rendering the service though in many cases the costs are arbitrarily assessed. Fees are ordinarily uniform but absence of uniformity is not a criterion on which alone it can be said that a levy is in the nature of tax. In the case of a fee, no account is taken of the varying abilities of different recipients of the service to pay, State of Maharashtra v. Salvation Army, Western India Territory, AIR 1975 SC 846: (1975) 1 SCC 509: (1975) 3 SCR 475.

A league or Union of States, groups or people arranged with a strong central authority and limited regional sovereignties; Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 630.

Are payments primarily in the public interest but for some special service rendered or some special work done for the benefit of those from whom payments are demanded; the fees charged must be commensurate with the services rendered. The payments collected by way of fees must be specially appropriated for that purpose and must not be merged in the general revenue of the State, Jagannath v. State of Orissa, AIR 1954 SC 400.

Cannot be imposed for raising the general revenue. Imposition of fee without rendering a service would be ultra vires, Commentary on the Constitution of India, Durga Das Basu, Vol. 5, p. 431.

A fee is generally defined to be a charge for a special service rendered to individuals by some governmental agency. But the traditional view that there must be actual quid pro quo has undergone a sea change with the passage of time. Correlationship between the levy and the services rendered/expected is one of general character and not of mathematical exactitude. All that is necessary is that there should be a 'reasonable relationship' between the levy of the fee and the services rendered. It is increasingly realised that the element of quid pro quo in the strict sense is not a sine qua non for a fee. (1983 4 SCC 353 follow), Sreenivasa General Traders v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 2004 SC 3894: (2004) 5 SCC 155 (166); See also (2004) 11 SCC 26. (Constitution of India, Art. 265).