Editing Copyhold (section)

{{Short description|Customary land tenure in a manorial estate}}
{{for|the device that holds material being typed by a copy typist|copyholder}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{English Feudalism}}
'''Copyhold''' was a form of [[Custom (law)|customary]] [[real property|land ownership]] common from the [[Late Middle Ages]] into modern times in [[England]]. The name for this type of [[land tenure]] is derived from the act of giving a copy of the relevant [[Deed|title deed]] that is recorded in the [[Manorial roll|manorial court roll]] to the tenant, rather than the actual land deed itself. The legal owner of the [[Manorialism|manor land]] remained the [[mesne lord]], who was legally the ''copyholder'', according to the titles and customs written down in the manorial roll.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilkes |first1=J. |title=Encyclopaedia Londinensis |volume=13 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mJw1IV-EAAoC&q=he+had+the+title+of+mesne+Lord+of+the+manor+of&pg=PA661 |publisher=J. Wilkes, 1815 |access-date=15 January 2019 |page=661 |chapter=Lord |year=1815 |quote=Lord is also a title&nbsp;... ''Lord mesne'' is he that is owner of a manor, and by virtue thereof hath tenants holding of him in fee, and by copy of court-roll; and yet holds himself of a superior lord called ''lord paramount''.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Reports of cases: House of Lords |journal=The Jurist |volume=10 |issue=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0a0zAQAAMAAJ&q=mesne+Lordship+of&pg=PA895 |publisher=S. Sweet |year=1865 |pages=893–895 |access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref> In return for being given land, a copyhold tenant was required to carry out specific manorial duties or services. The specific rights and duties of copyhold tenants varied greatly from one manor to another and many were established by custom. By the 19th century, many customary duties had been replaced with the payment of rent.

Copyhold was directly descended from the [[Feudalism|feudal system]] of [[villein|villeinage]] which involved giving service and produce to the local lord in return for land. Although feudalism in England had ended by the early 1500s,<ref>{{cite book|chapter=The End of Feudalism |first=J. H. M. |last=Salmon |title=Society in Crisis: France in the Sixteenth Century |year=1979 |pages=19–26}}</ref> forms of copyhold tenure continued in England until being completely abolished by the [[Law of Property Act 1925]].