Fine

Fine in feudal law was a final agreement between lord and vassal as to the conditions on which lands were to be held by the latter, or between other persons as to rent. The fine of lands was a fictitious proceeding formerly in use in order to transfer or secure real property by a mode more efficacious than an ordinary conveyance. The party to whom the land was to be conveyed commenced a fictitious suit against the vendor; and leave being obtained, a covenant was entered into whereby the vendor or defendant recognised the right of the plaintiff to the lands wrongfully kept from him. The fine was registered; and the business was concluded by what was called the foot of the fine, setting forth the parties, the time and place, and before whom the fine was levied; the whole was embodied in indentures commencing hæc est finalis concordia. A fine was also one of the methods of barring an Entail (q.v.), till the Fines and Recoveries Act of 1833 substituted a disentailing deed. Fine is also a name for a money payment imposed for an offence by a judicial authority. In some offences imprisonment may be imposed, in minor cases with, in more serious cases without, option of paying a corresponding fine.