they may have at the end of their termes.' There are even 

 instances of lords browbeating their copyholders to do so. 1 

 In some cases it would even appear that copyholders 

 preferred the lease if they could get thereby easier terms. 

 Indeed-, except on the question of the rent, the difference 

 between a copyhold for lives and a lease for lives was not 

 very great, except that in a copyhold the questions as to" 

 rent and right of renewal would be settled in many cases 

 by the custom of the manor, while in the case of a lease 

 these matters would be settled by covenant. 



Of course it may be argued that the ultimate object of 

 thus changing copyholds of inheritance into copyholds or 

 leaseholds for life was to absorb the holding by refusing to 

 renew at the termination of the lives, especially when the 

 owner had lately acquired part of the monastic lands, or was 

 a speculating capitalist who bought land or reversions as an 

 investment, of whom there were evidently many, or again, 

 in counties where the coalfields were beginning to be of 

 importance. Besides, the lord might, by demanding exorbi- 

 tant fines, so weary fhp + Q " Q "+ * kof hp would prefer to quit. 

 But though this was probably in many cases the eventual 

 result, yet the prospect of thus securing the tenement would 

 be too remote to appeal to many, and men are wont to prefer 

 immediate to future advantage. In any case we should 

 remember that inthe^ majority of cases the encloser does 



nnfapppar {n ha,vp. bPP" Q 1mvl nf fTl rr. g nn r p.f all hnf. a 

 tenant on the manor who wnnlrl ha.vp nn power whatsoever 

 to evict. 2 ^ 



That the object of landlords was chiefly financial, that is 



1 Cf. Fitzherbert, Surveying, and cases quoted Ashley, Economic 

 Hist., p. 285. 



2 Mr. Leadam, Domesday Enclosures, vol. ii. 508 ff., calcul 

 that according to the returns to the inquisition of 1517 the proper 



\ was in Berks. 109 tenants, 16 lords of manors ; in Bucks. 80 tens 



>. 23 lords of manors. 



