— Also termed copyhold tenure; customary estate; customary freehold; tenancy by the verge; tenancy par la verge; tenancy by the rod. See base tenure under TENURE; VILLEINAGE.
“Out of the tenure by villeinage, copyhold tenure developed…. By the end of the fifteenth century, to hold by copy of the court roll, to be a ‘copyholder,’ was a definite advantage, and, in most cases the holders had for many generations been personally free. The fusing of several different types of payment had also gone on, so that there was little difference between a holder in socage who had commuted the services for a sum of money and a co-pyholder who had done the same, except the specific dues of heriot and merchet. In Coke’s time, a very large part of the land of England was still held by copyhold.” Max Radin, Handbook of Anglo-American Legal History 371 (1936).
“[L]and held on an unfree tenure could be transferred only by a surrender and admittance made in the lord’s court. The transaction was recorded on the court rolls and the transferee given a copy of the entry to prove his title; he thus held ‘by copy of the court roll,’ and the tenure became known as ‘copyhold.’ ” Robert E. Megarry & M.P. Thompson, A Manual of the Law of Real Property 22 (6th ed. 1993).
privileged copyhold. Hist. A copyhold subject only to the customs of the manor and not affected by the nonconforming dictates of the current lord.
