The Collaborative International Dictionary
Copyhold \Cop"y*hold`\, n. (Eng. Law)
A tenure of estate by copy of court roll; or a tenure for which the tenant has nothing to show, except the rolls made by the steward of the lord's court.
--Blackstone.-
Land held in copyhold.
--Milton.Note: Copyholds do not exist in the United States.
Wiktionary
n. A former form of tenure in which the title deeds were a copy of the manorial roll
WordNet
n. a medieval form of land tenure in England; a copyhold was a parcel of land granted to a peasant by the lord of the manor in return for agricultural services
Wikipedia
Copyhold tenure was a form of feudal tenure of land common in England from the Middle Ages until the 19th century, and surviving in residual form until 1922. The land was held according to the custom of the manor, and the mode of landholding took its name from the fact that the " title deed" received by the tenant was a copy of the relevant entry in the manorial court roll. A tenant who held land in this way was known as a copyholder.
Usage examples of "copyhold".
That if any copyholder or customary tenant of the said manor die, and leave his heir within the age of fourteen years, that then the nearest of kin and farthest from the land, have had, and ought to have the guardianship and custody of the body of such heir and his copyholds, held of that manor, so that at the next Court or Law-day he come in and challengeth the same, and to keep the same until the heir come to be of the age of fourteen years.
That all the copyholds and customary messuages, lands, and tenements within the said manor are, and have been time out of mind, copyholds of inheritance, demised and demisable to the copyholders or customary tenants thereof, and their heirs in fee simple by copy of Court Roll, according to the custom of the said manor.
That it is lawful for any of the copyholders or customary tenants of the said manor, to let her, his, or their copyholds for one year, but not for any longer term, without a licence from the lord of the said manor.
The copyhold was also subject to a variety of grievous taxes, which the lord had the privilege, upon many occasions, of imposing - such as aids, reliefs, primer seisin, wardship, escheats for felony and want of heirs, and many more, altogether so exorbitant and oppressive as often totally to ruin the tenant and rob him of almost all interest in his property.
Wood, Pit Down, and Merdon Down, for all their commonable cattle, levant and couchant, upon their respective copyhold tenements, within the said manor.
His copyhold was seized by the lord as forfeited, but afterwards recovered, viz. in 1664.
That all the copyholds and customary messuages, lands, and tenements within the said manor are, and have been time out of mind, copyholds of inheritance, demised and demisable to the copyholders or customary tenants thereof, and their heirs in fee simple by copy of Court Roll, according to the custom of the said manor.
Allow me to give you an example: in the manors of East and West Enbourne, in Berkshire, a widow shall have her free-bench--her sedes libera, or in barbarous law Latin her francus bancus--in all her late husband's copyhold lands dum sola et casta fuerit.