Copyhold, a species of estate or right of property in land, in Ireland and England, nearly resembling in many particulars the feu-rights of Scotland. Copyhold is expressed technically as 'tenure by copy of court-roll, at the will of the lord, according to the custom of the manor.' This means that it is tenure of land, being part of a manor, the title being evidenced by the court-rolls of the manor, and the right of the owner being in conformity with the immemorial customs of the manor. The addition, 'at the will of the lord,' serves only as a memorial of the derivation of this species of estate from the estates granted in old times to the bondsmen or Villeins (q.v.), which were of course resuable at the pleasure of the lord. But the will of the lord is now absolutely controlled by the custom of the manor, which forms the law of the tenure; and as this custom must be immemorial—i.e. extending to the reign of Richard II.—no copyhold can now be created.
The custom of each manor may vary in important particulars. In some the lands are held for life only, generally, however, with a customary right to renewal or to appoint the successor; in some they descend according to particular rules; in most, however, they descend according to the ordinary rules of succession. But the custom, whatever it may be, cannot be altered. The tenant cannot, for instance, entail his land unless the custom warrants him. The freehold remaining in the lord includes a right to minerals and timber, but in the absence of special custom he cannot remove these without the consent of the tenant. The tenant also in the general case cannot lease his land for more than one year. This tenure makes the intervention of the lord necessary in every act of alienation, which therefore resembles the Scottish procedure of resignation of a feu, and is called a surrender and admittance.
Various money-payments are due by the copyholder to the lord. These are divided into the rents, an annual payment of the nature of the Scottish feu-duty; fines, payments on particular occasions, such as alienation or succession, like the Scottish composition to the inferior; and heriots, or the best piece of personal property, to which, on the death of the copyholder, the lord becomes entitled. As to fines, it may be observed that the courts of law have fixed the extreme amount that can be exacted at two years' rent of the land.
In the case of an heir succeeding there is no surrender, but there is admittance only upon payment of the customary fine, and it is enforced by a customary penalty. A mortgage is effected by a surrender, upon condition that the money is repaid, and the admittance takes place only in event of failure of payment. A copyhold may, in like manner, be devised by will, the devisee being admitted on the death of the devisor.
The inconveniences and loss accruing through the variety of customs to which copyright lands are subject have led the legislature to make provision for their gradual extinction. By the copyhold commissioners all the services due to the lord of the manor may be commuted for a fixed rent. The lord is also authorised to enfranchise or convert into freehold the lands by agreement with their owners. Since 1853 either the lord or the tenant so admitted may compel enfranchisement on payment, either of a fixed sum where it is at the instance of the lord, or of an annual rent where it is at the instance of the tenant, fixed in both cases by the commissioners. The copyhold commissioners are now incorporated with the Inclosure Commissioners and the Tithe Commissioners, under the name of the Land Commissioners for England, who publish an annual blue-book. Upwards of 16,000 enfranchisements have been made, the compensation amounting to considerably above £2,000,000.