Editing Copyhold (section)

==Inheritance==
Two main kinds of copyhold tenure developed:
* '''Copyhold of inheritance''': with one main tenant landholder who paid [[Renting|rent]] and undertook duties to the lord. When he died, the holding normally passed to his next heir(s) – who might be the eldest son or, if no son existed, the eldest daughter ([[primogeniture]]); the youngest son or, if no son existed, the youngest daughter ("Borough English" or [[ultimogeniture]]); or all sons or all children in equal or otherwise prescribed shares (partible inheritance or "[[gavelkind]]"), depending upon the custom of that particular manor. In practice, local rules of inheritance were often applied with considerable flexibility. During their life the tenant could usually 'sell' the holding to another person by formally surrendering it to the lord of the manor on the condition that the lord regrant it to the 'buyer'. This three-party transaction was recorded in the [[manorial roll]] and formed the new 'copyhold' for the purchaser.
* '''Copyhold for lives''': where several (usually three) named persons held the premises for the duration of their lives. The first-named life tenant acted as tenant and paid rent and heriots; while the other two were said to be "in reversion and remainder" and effectively formed a queue. When the first life died, the second-named inherited the property and nominated a new third life for the end of the new queue. These were recorded in the court rolls as the "copyhold" for this type of tenant. It was possible to exchange the reversion and remainder lives with different ones during a lifetime upon payment of a fine to the lord. However, it was not usually possible for these holdings to be sold, as there were [[Pur autre vie|three lives with an entitlement]]. Copyhold for lives is therefore regarded as a less secure tenancy than copyhold of inheritance.<ref>{{cite book |first=William |last=Blackstone |title=Commentaries on the Laws of England |year=1753 |chapter=Book 2, Chapter VI: Of the Modern English Tenures}}</ref>

Copyhold land often did not appear in a [[will and testament|will]]. This is because its inheritance was already pre-determined by custom, as just described. It could not therefore be given or devised in a will to any other person. In some instances, the executor of the estate held the copyhold for the term of one year after the decease of the testator, which was called the "executor's year", in parallel with the same concept in [[common law]]. Language regarding the disposal of the profits of the executor's year or of a heriot often indicates a copyhold.