had long been established in practice before it was formally
recognized by the law. At first it was in fact, as it is now in the
fictitious theory of the law, a tenancy at will, for which none of the
legal remedies of a freeholder were available. In the reign of Edward
IV., however, it was held that a tenant in villenage had an action of
trespass against the lord. In this way a species of tenant-right,
depending on and strongly supported by popular opinion, was changed into
a legal right. But it retained many incidents characteristic of its
historical origin. The life of copyhold assurance, it is said, is
custom. Copyhold is necessarily parcel of a manor, and the freehold is
said to be in the lord of the manor. The court roll of the manor is the
evidence of title and the record of the special laws as to fines, quit
rents, heriots, &c., prevailing in the manor. When copyhold land is
conveyed from one person to another, it is surrendered by the owner to
the lord, who by his payment of the customary fine makes a new grant of
it to the purchaser. The lord must admit the vendor's nominee, but the
form of the conveyance is still that of surrender and re-grant. The
lord, as legal owner of the fee-simple of the lands, has a right to all
the mines and minerals and to all the growing timber, although the
tenant may have planted it himself. Hence it appears that the existence
of copyhold tenures may sometimes be traced by the total absence of
timber from such lands, while on freehold lands it grows in abundance.
Hence also the popular saying that the "oak grows not except on free
land." The copyholder must not commit waste either by cutting down
timber, &c., or by neglecting to repair buildings. In such respects the
law treats him as a mere lessee,--the real owner being supposed to be
the lord. On the other hand, the lord may not enter the land to cut his
own timber or open his mines. The limitations of estates usual in
respect of other lands, as found in copyhold, become subject of course
to the operations of its peculiar conditions as to the relation of lord
and tenant. An estate for life, or _pour autre vie_ (i.e. for another's
life), an estate entail, or in fee-simple, may be carved out of
copyhold.

A species of tenure resembling copyhold is what is known as _customary
freehold_. The land is held by copy of court-roll, but not by will of
the lord. The question has been raised whether the freehold of such
lands is in the lord