COP 
C O P 
180 
If virtue’s felf were loft, we might 
From your fair mind new copies write. Waller. 
An individual book; one of many books : as, a good or 
fair copy.—The very having of the books of God was a 
matter of no fmall charge, as they Could not be had 
othervvife than in written copies. Hooker. —The autograph; 
the original; the archetype ; that from which any thing 
is copied.—The firft of them I have forgotten, and can¬ 
not eafi'ly retrieve, bccaufe the copy is at the prels. Dry den. 
It was the copy of our conference : 
In bed he flept not, for my urging it; 
At board he fed not, for my urging it. Shakefpeare. 
An inftrument by which any conveyance is made ; 
Thou knovv’ft that Banquo and his Fleance live ; 
. But in them nature's copy' s not eternal. Shakefpeare. 
A picture drawn from another picture. [From copra, 
Lat.] Store.—She was bleft with no more copy of wit'. 
Ben Jon/on. 
CO'FY, f. in law, is the tranfeript of an original writ¬ 
ing ; as the copy of a patent, charter, deed, &c. A elaufe 
out of a patent, taken from the chapel of the rolls, can¬ 
not be given in evidence ; but there muft be a true copy 
of the whole charter examined; it is the fame of a re¬ 
cord. And if upon a trial, fome part only of an office 
copy is given in evidence to prove a deed, which deed 
is to prove the party’s title to the land in queftion, the 
court will not admit of it; for the court will have a copy 
of the whole given, or no part of it ftiall be admitted, 
i Lil. Abr. 312.- Where a deed is inrolled, certifying an 
attefted copy is proof of the inrolment; and fuck copy 
may be given in evidence. A common deed cannot be 
proved by a copy or counterpart, when the original may 
be procured. And a copy of a will of lands, or the pro¬ 
bate, is not fufficient; but the will itfelf muft be fhewn 
as evidence. 2 Rot. Abr. 74. 
To CO'FY, v. a. To tranferibe ; to write after an ori¬ 
ginal : it has fometimes out, a kind of pleonalm : 
He who hurts a harmiefs neighbour’s peace, 
Who loves a lye, lame Hander helps about. 
Who writes a libel, or who copies out. Pope. 
To imitate ; to propofe to imitation; to endeavour, to 
refemble.—He that borrows other men’s experience, with 
this defign of copying it out, poftefles himfelf of one of the 
greateft advantages. Decay of Piety. 
Set the examples, and their fouls inflame 
To copy out their great forefathers fame. Dryden. 
To CO'PY, v. n. To do any thing in imitation of fome- 
thing elle.—Some imagine, that whatfoever they find in 
the picture of a matter, who has acquired reputation, 
mutt of neceflity be excellent; and never fail, when they 
copy, to follow the bad as well as the good things. Dry¬ 
den. —It has fometimes from before the thing imitated.— 
When a painter copies from the life, he has no privilege 
to alter features and lineaments, under pretence that his 
picture will look better. Dryden. —Sometimes after ,—• 
Several of our countrymen, and Mr. Dryden in particu¬ 
lar, feem very often to have copied after it in their drama¬ 
tic writings, and in their poems upon love. Addifon. 
CG'PY-BOOK, f. A book in which copies are writ¬ 
ten for learners to imitate. 
CO’PY-RIGHT, f. The exclufive right of printing 
and publifhing copies of any literary performance ; mu- 
tic, engravings, &c. See Literary Property. 
CO'PYHOLD,y'. in law, a tenure for which the tenant 
hath nothing to (hew but the copy of the rolls, made by 
the fteward of the lord’s court, on fuch tenant’s being 
admitted to any parcel of land or tenement belonging to 
the manor. It is called bafe tenure , becaufe held at the 
will of the lord : and Fity.herbert fays, it was anciently 
tenure in villcnage, and that copyhold is but a modem 
name. Some copyholds are held by the verge in ancient 
demefne ; and though they-are by copy, yet are they a 
kind of freehold ; for if a tenant of fuch copyhold com¬ 
mit felony, the king hath the year, day, and wafte, as in 
the cafe of freeholders : fome other copyholds are fuch 
as the tenants hold by common tenure, called mere copy¬ 
hold, whofe land, upon felony committed, efeheats to the 
lord of the manor. But copyhold land cannot be made 
at this day.; for the pillars of a copyhold eftafe are, 
that it hath been demifed time out of mind by copy of 
court-roll ; and that the tenements are parcel of, or 
within, the manor. 1 Injl. 5S. 4 Rep. 24. Norcanacopy- 
hold be created by operation of law : and therefore 
where waftes are fevered from the manor, by a grant of 
the latter, with the exception of the former, though the 
copyholders continue to have a right of common in the 
waftes by immemorial ufage; yet if afterwards a grant of 
the foil of thofe waftes be made to truftees for the ufe 
of the copyholders in free focage, the lands, when in- 
clofed, will be freehold, and not copyhold. iTermRcp. 
HS. 7 ° 5 - 
A copyhold tenant had originally in judgment of law 
but an eftate at will; yet time fo eftabliflied his eftate., 
that by the cuftom of the manor it was defcendible, and 
his heirs inherited it: and therefore the eftate of the co¬ 
pyholder is not merely at the will of the lord, but at tiie 
will of the lord according to the cuftom of the manor.; 
fo that the cuftom of the manor is the life of copyhold 
eftates; for without a cuftom, or if copyholders., break 
their cuftom, they are fubjett to the will of the lord : 
and as a copyhold is created by cuftom, fo it is guided 
by cuftom. 4 Rep. 21. A copyholder, fo long as he doth 
his fervices, and doth not break the cuftom of the manor, 
cannot be. ejefted by the lord; if lie be, lie ftiall .have 
trefpafs againft him : but if a copyholder refufe to per¬ 
form his lervice, it is a breach of the cuftom, and for¬ 
feiture of his eftate. It appears that eftates held by 
copy of court-roll, but not at the will of the lord, have 
been deemed freehold by lord Coke, 1 Inft. 59. and in 
order to diftinguifh them from the ordinary kind, they 
are denominated cuftomary freeholds. In confequence of 
the prevalence of this notion, a confiderable number of 
fuch tenants claimed a right of voting as freeholders at 
the election of knights of the fliire. This gave occafion 
to a fliort treatife on this fubjedt, in which the origin of 
lands held in this peculiar way is traced, and it is proved 
that though thefe tenures in fome refpects refemble free¬ 
holds, they are in truth nothing more than a fuperior 
kind of copyhold. Soon after the publication of this 
treatife, 31 Geo. II. C..14. was palled ; declaring that no 
perfon holding by copy of court-roll, ftiould be entitled 
to vote at the election of knights of the (hire. 
In fome manors where the cuftom hath been to permit 
.the heir to fucceed the anceftor in his tenure, the eftates 
are ftiled copyholds of inheritance : in others, where the 
lords have been more vigilant to maintain their rights, 
they remain copyholds for life only. For the cuftom of 
the manor has in both cafes fo far fuperfeded the will of the 
lord, that provided the fervices be performed, or ftipu- 
lated for by fealty, he cannot in the firft inftance refufe to 
admit the heir of his tenant upon his death ; nor in the 
fecond earn he remove his prefent tenant fo long as he 
lives, though he holds nominally by the precarious te¬ 
nure of his lord’s will. 2 Comm. 97, 147. If the lord re- 
fufes to admit, he fliall be compelled in chancery. 2 Cro. 
368. And if the lord refufe to admit a furrenderee, on 
account of a difagreement about the fine to be paid, the 
court of king’s-bench will grant a mandamus to compel 
the lord to admit, without examining the right to the 
fine. 2 Term Rep. 484. But that court will not grant a 
mandamus to admit a cop} holder by defeent.; becaufe, 
without admittance, he has a complete title againft all 
the world but the lord. 2 Terra Rep. 198. 
Copyholds defeend according to the rules and maxims 
of the common law, unlefs in particular manors, where 
there are contrary cuftoms of great antiquity ; but fuch 
cuftomary inheritances lhall not be aftets, to charge the 
heir 
