Lease: To rent or a legal contract in writing whereby a person conveys a portion of his interest in property to another, in consideration of a certain rent or other recompense. Lease and release: A technical way of avoiding English court fees for transferring land. The possessor of the land would lease it for a year to the person who wanted to buy it. The leaseholder would take possession of the land, and then could purchase the remaining rights to the land through a release. The entire process had the same effect as a sale of land. Lease for "lives": In colonial days the customary time for a lease to be in force was twenty-one years, but at times it was for three "lives." This could be for the lives of any three people: a man, his wife and chid, a man and two friends, or any other combination. At the death of the last of the three, the use of the land reverted to the owner. This type of lease usually was not recorded in the local land register. Leasehold: Land which has been rented. Fee: An Estate consisting of property to be given to the owner's heir unless the owner disposes of it before he dies. Fee simple absolute: Compete and unlimited interest in land. Fee simple title: Property which the owner can do with as he pleases. It can be subject to easements, restrictions, etc. Fee tail: property which goes to the owner's legal heirs, if he dies without selling, or otherwise disposing of it. Estate tail: Property which is limited to a person and does not go to his heirs in general, but his lawful issue in a direct line. When a person who owns the property dies without any issue the estate is terminated.