Commentaries on the Laws of England, by William Blackstone
BOOK 2, CHAPTER 7
OF FREEHOLD ESTATES, OF INHERITANCE
... of which Titius is seized in his demesne as of fee. The fee-simple or
inheritance of lands and tenements is generally vested and resides in some
person or other; though diverse inferior estates may be carved out of it. As
if one grants a lease for twenty one years, or for one or two lives, the fee simple
remains vested in him and his heirs; and after the determination of
those years or lives,
the land reverts to the grantor or his heirs, who shall
hold it again in fee-simple. Yet sometimes the fee may be
in abeyance, that
is (as the word signifies)
in expectation, remembrance, and contemplation
of law;
there being no person in esse, in whom it can vest and abide;
though
the law considers it as always potentially existing, and
ready to vest
whenever a proper owner appears.