COPY 
heir in aftion of debt, &c. 4 Rep. 22. Though a leafe 
for one year of copyhold lands, which is warranted by 
the common law, {hall be affets in the hand of an exe¬ 
cutor. 1 Vent. 163. Copyholders hold their eftates free 
from charges of dower, being created by cuftom, which 
is paramount to title of dower. 4 Rep. 24. Copyhold 
inheritances have no collateral qualities, which do not 
concern the defeent; as to make them affets ; or where¬ 
of a wife may be endowed ; a lnilband be tenant by the 
curtefy, See. But by particular cuftom, there may be 
dower and tenancy by the curtefy. Cro. Eliz. 361. There 
may be an eftate-tail in copyhold lands by cuftom, with 
the co-operation of flat.Will. II. And as a copyhold may 
be entailed by cuftom, fo by cuftom the tail may be cut 
off by furrender. 1 Injl. 60. Where by fpecial cuftom a 
defeent of copyholds may be, contrary to the rules of 
the common law, fuch cuftom fhall be interpreted 
ftridlly : thus, where there is a cuftom within a manor, 
that lands fliall defeend to the eldeft fifter, where there 
is neither a fon nor a daughter; this fhall not extend to an 
eldeft niece : but in default of fuch fon, daughter, and 
fifter, the lands muft defeend according to the rules of 
the common law. 1 Term Rep. 466. 
A copyhold may be barred by a recovery, by fpecial 
cuftom; and a furrender may bar the iffue by cuftom. 
A fine and recovery, at common law. will not deftroy a 
copyhold eftate ; becaufe common law affurances do not 
work upon the affurance of the copyhold : though co¬ 
pyhold lands are within 4H. VII. c. 24. of fines and 
proclamations, and five years non-claim, it fhall be 
tarred. 1 Rol. Abr. 506. A plaint may be made in the 
court of the manor, in the nature of a real action, and 
a recovery fhall be had in that plaint againft tenant in 
tail, and fuch a recovery fhall be a difcontinuance to the 
eftate-tail. 1 Brownl. 121. And the buffering a recovery 
by a copyholder tenant for life in the lord’s court is no 
forfeiture, unlefs there is a particular cuftom for it. 1 
Nelf. Abr. 507. Copyholders may entail copyhold lands, 
and bar the entails and remainders, by committing a for¬ 
feiture, as making leafe without licence, See. and then 
the lord is to make three proclamations, and feize the 
copyhold, after which the lands are granted to the copy- 
holder, and his heirs, &c. This is the method in fome 
places, but it muft be warranted by cuftom. 2 Danv. Abr. 
191. Sid. 314. 
Cuftoms ought to be time out of memory; to be rea¬ 
sonable, &c. And a cuftom in deprivation or bar of a 
copyhold eftate, fliall be taken ftriclly ; but when for 
making and maintaining, it fhall be conftrued favourably. 
Cro. Eliz. 879. An unreafonable cuftom, as for a lord to 
exadt exorbitant fines ; for a copyholder for life to cut 
down and fell timber trees, &c. is void. A copyholder 
for life pleaded a cuftom, that every copyholder for life 
might, in the prefence of two other copyholders, ap¬ 
point who fhould have his copyhold after his death ; 
and that the two copyholders might afiefs a fine, fo as 
not to be lefs than had been uftially paid ; and it was 
adjudged a good cuftom. 4lean. 238. But a cuftom to 
compel a lord to make a grant, is faid to be againft law ; 
though it may be good to admit a tenant. Moor 7S8. By 
the cuftom of fome manors, where copyhold lands are 
granted to two or more perfons for lives, the perfon 
firft named in the copy may furrender all the lands. 1 
Nelf. Abr. 497. There are cuftoms ratione loci, different 
from other places : but though a cuftom may be applied 
to a particular place ; yet it is againft the nature of a 
cuftom of a manor to apply it to one particular tenant. 1 
Nelf. 504. 1 Lutw. 126. But, there are ufually cuftom- 
rolls of manors, exhibited on oath by the tenants; let¬ 
ting forth the bounds of the manor, the royalties of the 
lord, Services of the copyhold tenants, the tenures 
granted, whether for life, &c. concerning admittances, 
furrenders, and the rights of the copyholders, as to tak¬ 
ing timber for repairs, fire-bote, Sec. Common belong¬ 
ing to the tenants, payment of rent, fuing in the court 
Vol, V. No. 264. 
HOLD. 181 
of the manor, taking heriots, Sec. All which cuftoms 
are to be obferved. Comp. Court Keep. 2 1. 
When an act of parliament altereth the fervice, cuf¬ 
tom, tenure, and intereft of land, in prejudice of the 
lord or tenant, there the general words of fuch an aft 
fliall not extend to copyholds. 3 Rep. 7. Copyholds are 
not within 27 Hen. VIII. c. 10. of jointures ; nor 32Hen. 
VIII. c. 28. of leafes ; copyholds being in their nature 
demifable only by copy : they are not within the ftatute 
of ufes ; nor are copyholds extendible in execution : 
but copyholds are within the ftatute of limitation of ac¬ 
tions ; and the ftatutes againft bankrupts. The lord 
fhall have the cuftody of the lands of ideots, Sec. And a 
copyholder is not within the aft 12 Car. II. c.24. to difpofe 
of the cuftody and guardianfliip of the heir ; for if there 
be a cuftom for it, it belongs to the lord of the manor. 
3 Lev. 395. 1 Nelf. Abr. 492, 522. Copyholders fhall nei¬ 
ther implead nor be impleaded for their tenements by 
writ, but by plaint in the lord’s court held within the 
manor: and if on fuch plaint, erroneous judgment be 
given, no writ of falfe judgment lies, but petition to the 
lord in nature of a writ of falfe judgment, wherein er¬ 
rors are to be afligned, and remedy given according to 
law. Co. Lit. 60. Where a man holds copyhold lands in 
truft to furrender to another, if he refufes to furrender 
to the other accordingly, he may be compelled by bill 
exhibited in the lord’s court, who, as chancellor, has 
power to do right, i Leon. 2. A copyholder may have a 
formedon in defender, in the lord’s court. Leffee of a 
copyholder for life for one year, fhall maintain an ejeft- 
ment. Moor6~i^. It is every day’s praftice to bring 
ejeftments, to recover the poftefiion of copyholds; for 
defendant by the rule, obliging himfelf to confefs leafe, 
entry, and oufter, the title only can come in queflion on 
the trial. But the leflor of plaintiff, before he brings 
his ejeftment, fhould be admitted. 
A manor is loft when there are no cuftomary tenants or 
copyholders : and if a copyhold comes into the hands of 
the lord in fee, and the lord leafes it for one year, or half 
a year, or for any certain time, it can never be granted 
by copy after : but if the lord aliens the manor, his 
alienee may re-grant land by copy. If the lord keeps 
the copyhold for a long time in his hand, it is no impe¬ 
diment but that he may afterwards grant it again by 
copy. 2 Danv. Abr. 176. A copyholder in-fee'accepts of 
a leafe, grant, or confirmation, of the fame land from the 
lord, this determines his copyhold eftate. 2 Cro. 16. If 
a copyholder bargains and fells his copyhold to a lefi'ee 
for years, &c. of the manor, his copyhold is extinguifh- 
ed. 2 Danv. 205. A copyholder may grant his eftate to 
his lord, by bargain and fale, releafe, Sec. for between 
lord and tenant the conveyance need not be according to 
cuftom. 1 NelJ'. 504. A copyholder in other cafes can¬ 
not alien by deed : though he that hath a right only to 
a copyhold may releafe it by deed. And if a copyholder 
furrenders upon condition,, he may afterwards releafe 
the condition by deed. 2 Danv. 205. Alfo one joint co¬ 
pyholder may releafe to another, which will be good 
without any admittance. A copyholder cannot convey 
or transfer his copyhold eftate to another, othenvife than 
by furrender ; which is the yielding up of the land by 
the tenant to the lord, according to the cuftom of the 
manor, to the ufe of him that is to have the eftate : or 
it is in order to a new grant, and renewal of the eftate 
in tire fame. 
As to copyhold grants, which are made either in fee, 
or for three lives, &c. the lord of the manor that hath a 
lawful eftate therein, whether he be tenant for life or 
years, tenant by ftatute merchant, or at will, is dominies 
pro tempore, and may grant lands, herbage of lands, a 
fair, mill, tithes, &c. and any thing that concerns lands, 
by copy of court-roll, according to cuftom ; and fuch 
grants {hall bind thofe in remainder: the rents and fer- 
vices referved by them fhall be annexed to the manor, 
and attend the owner thereof after their particular ei- 
3 A tates 
