What is "acknowledgment money"

Acknowledgment \Ac*knowl"edg*ment\, Acknowledgement \Ac*knowl"edge*ment\ ([a^]k*n[o^]l"[e^]j*ment), n.

1. The act of acknowledging; admission; avowal; owning; confession. ``An acknowledgment of fault.''
   --Froude.

2. The act of owning or recognizing in a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness; a statement acknowledging something or someone.

   Immediately upon the acknowledgment of the Christian faith, the eunuch was baptized by Philip.
   --Hooker.

3. The owning of a benefit received; courteous recognition; the state or quality of being recognized or acknowledged; an expression of thanks.
   --Shak.

   Syn: recognition

4. Something given or done in return for a favor, message, etc.
   --Smollett.

5. A declaration or avowal of one's own act, to give it legal validity; as, the acknowledgment of a deed before a proper officer. Also, the certificate of the officer attesting such declaration.

   Acknowledgment money, in some parts of England, a sum paid by copyhold tenants, on the death of their landlords, as an acknowledgment of their new lords.
   --Cowell.

   Syn: Confession; concession; recognition; admission; avowal; recognizance.