In the year 1843 the exports of British copper consisted of 8463 tons unwrought, in bricks, pigs, &c., 60 tons of coin, 8386 tons of sheet, nails, &c., 6 tons of wire, 598 tons of wrought copper; making a total of 17,515 tons. And the remainder to forty other States | per ton. It is a valuable return cargo to and countries. vessels trading to the Pacific, Australia, and especially the western coast of South America, which affords few commercial products. A high duty on such a commodity is more especially impolitic, as it may be an inducement to other countries to commence smelting operations on a large scale, and since the increase of duty in 1842 this has taken place in France, Holland, and the United States. Any diminution in the foreign supply, which now amounts to nearly three-sevenths of the copper made in Great Britain, would be seriously felt by the smelters and manufacturers of this country. Although the import of foreign 18,491 copper is now so much greater than it was 19,465 ten years ago, the price of British ore has 30,000 not fallen, but is at present higher than it was in 1832, and the supply from our own mines has also steadily increased. Within the last twenty years a considerable quantity of copper-ore has been brought to England for the purpose of being smelted and re-exported in the metallic state. These importations amounted only to 2 cwts. in 1825, and have gradually but rapidly increased as follows: Years. Tons. Years. 1826 64 1836 1827 32 1837 1828 334 1838 1829 1,212 Tons. 30,195 54,391 COPYHOLD, a term in English law applied to lands held by what is called tenure by copy of court roll, the nature of which is thus described by Littleton (§ 73, 4, 5): "Tenant by copy of court roll is as if a man be seised of a manor, within which manor there is a custom which hath been used time out of mind of man, that certain tenants within the same manor have used to have lands and tenements to hold to them and their heirs in fee-simple or fee-tail, or for term of life, at the will of the lord, according to the custom of the same manor. And such a tenant may not alien his land by deed, for then the lord may enter as into a thing forfeited unto him. But if he will alien his land to another, it behoveth The duty on copper-ore from British pos-him after the custom to surrender the sessions is 21s. per ton, but only 14 tons from Australia were imported. Coppermines have been recently discovered in South Australia, which, it is said, are likely to prove very productive. In 1843 we received 31,683 tons of ore from Cuba; 19,829 from Chili; 1200 from Mexico; 1151 from the United States of North America; and smaller quantities from Peru, the British West Indies, Italy, Spain, and some other places. The value of the foreign copper-ore imported in 1843 was about 900,000l., the freights varied from 21. 10s. to 61. tenements in court into the hands of the lord to the use of him that shall have the estate. And these tenants are called tenants by copy of court roll, because they have no other evidence concerning their tenements, but only the copies of court rolls." From this it appears that the title to copyhold lands is not only modified but altogether constituted by custom; subject to the estates in them which the custom confers, they are held by the lord under the common law as part of the demesnes of his manor. For these customary estates were in their origin mere tenancies at will, though by | long usage they have in many instances acquired the character of a permanent inheritance, descendible (except where otherwise modified by custom) according to the rules of the common law; and as tenancies at will they continue to be considered in all questions relating to the legal as distinguished from the customary property in the land. The origin of copyholds is involved in great obscurity. The opinion generally adopted among our lawyers and antiquarians, and supported by the authority of Littleton, Coke, Sir Martin Wright, and Mr. Justice Blackstone, is, that copyholders have gradually arisen out of the villeins or tenants in villeinage who composed the mass of the agricultural population of England for some centuries after the Norman conquest, through the commutation of base services into specific rents either in money or money's-worth. (See Co. Litt., 58 a-61 a; Blackstone's Comm., ii. p. 92; Wright on Tenures, 3rd edit., p. 215. See also Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. iii., p. 254.) [VILLEIN AGE.] Although the change in the condition of these classes of persons was accomplished gradually, it seems in the middle of the thirteenth century to have begun to assume a more decided character. There are proofs of as early a date as the reign of Henry III. of a limitation of the services of villeins to certain specified acts which were recorded in the lord's book. The descendants of persons so privileged began to claim a customary right to be entered on the court roll on the same terms as their predecessors, and, in process of time, prevailed so far as to obtain a copy of the roll for their security. It is said in the year-book of the 42nd of Edw. III. to be "admitted for clear law that if the customary tenant or copyholder did not perform his services, the lord might seize his land as forfeited," which seems to imply a permanent interest in the copyholder, so long as he performed the services. This view of the law is confirmed by Britton in a passage cited by Lord Coke (Co. Litt., 61 a) and was adopted by the judges in Edward IV.'s time, who held that a copyholder might maintain an action of trespass against the lord for dispossession. The two great essentials of copyhold tenure, according to Blackstone, are: 1. That lands be parcel of and situate within that manor under which they are held; and 2, That they have been demised or demisable by copy of court roll immemorially. "For immemorial custom," says that author, ii. p. 96, "is the life of all tenures by copy; so that no new copyhold can, strictly speaking, be granted at this day." The burdens to which a copyhold tenure is liable in common with free tenures, are fealty, services, reliefs, and escheats; besides which it has certain liabilities peculiar to itself in the shape of heriots and fines. A heriot is the render of the best beast or other chattel (as the custom may be) to the lord on the death of a tenant. Of fines, some are due on the death of a tenant, and others on the alienation of the land; they are sometimes fixed by the custom, sometimes arbitrary; but in the latter case it is an established rule of law that the lord cannot demand by way of fine upon the descent or alienation of the land more than the amount of two years, improved value of the property, after deduction of the quit-rents to which it is liable. The ordinary mode of alienating a copyhold estate in fee-simple is by surrender and admittance, which is effected in the following manner :-The copyholder appears in court and professes to surrender or deliver up his land to the lord (either in person, or, which is more usual, as represented by his steward), expressing the surrender to be to the use of A and his heirs; and thereupon A is admitted tenant of the land to hold it to him and his heirs at the will of the lord according to the custom of the manor. He then pays a fine, and also (if required) does fealty. All these circumstances, or at least the surrender and admittance, are entered on the court rolls; and the new tenant, paying his fees to the steward, receives a copy of this fundamental document of his title. Surrenders are made in various forms, as by the delivery of a rod, glove, or other symbol, to the steward or other person taking the surrender. Surrenders may also be made to the lord | VIII. c. 1, and 32 Henry VIII. c. 32), nor the statute enabling persons having certain limited interests in lands to grant valid leases (32 Henry VIII. c. 28), nor any of the local Registry Acts, are applicable to copyholds. in person out of court; to the steward; and by special custom to the lord's bailiff; to two or three copyholders, or into the hands of a tenant in the presence of other persons. But when a surrender is taken out of court it must be presented by the homage or jury of copyholders at the next general court, except where a special custom authorizes a presentment at some other court. Admittances also may be made out of court and even out of the manor. The words in the admittance "to hold at the will of the lord" are characteristic of those customary estates to which the term copyhold is in ordinary legal language exclusively appropriated, in contradistinction to what are sometimes called "customary freeholds" (which estates are very common in the north of England), and ancient demesne lands. These are all included under the term copyhold in the statute 12 Car. II. c. 24, which abolished all the old tenures in England except common soccage, copyhold, and some other specified tenures. Though customary freeholds and ancient demesne lands for the most part pass by surrender and admittance, the admittance is expressed to be "to hold according to the custom of the manor." Copy holds now descend to the heir-atlaw according to the rules that regulate the descent of all other kinds of land, under the 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 106. The Statutes of Wills (32 Hen. VIII. c. 1, and 34 & 35 Hen. VIII. c. 5) do not include copyholds, and therefore it was formerly necessary, in order to enable a person to dispose of copyholds by will, that he should first have surrendered them to the use of his will, as it was called. This ceremony was rendered unnecessary in most cases by the 55 Geo. III. c. 192. This statute, however, did not apply to customary freeholds, nor to cases where there was no custom to surrender to the use of a will, nor did it extend to estates of customary tenure not being copyhold, though the distinction between them is little more than nominal. There were also some customary freeholds which were neither devisable at law nor capable of being conveyed or surrendered to the use of a will; and it was even thought doubtful whether a custom against a surrender of copy holds to the use of a will might not be supported. But though a surrender to the use of a will might be The Statute of Entails (13 Edw. I.), commonly called the Statute of Westminster the 2nd, does not extend to copy-dispensed with, admittance of the devisor holds; but in most manors a custom of entailing copyholds has prevailed. These entails might formerly be barred by a proceeding in the lord's court, analogous to a common recovery, or, in the absence of a custom authorizing such a proceeding, by a mere surrender. And now by statute (3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74, § 50-54 inclusive) entails of copyholds may be barred by assurances made in pursuance of the provisions of that act. It is a general rule that no statute relating to lands or tenements in which those of a customary tenure are not expressly mentioned, shall be applied to customary estates, if such application would be derogatory to the customary rights of the lord or tenant. Hence neither the Statute of Uses (27 Henry VIII. c. 10), nor the Statutes of Partitions (31 Henry before the date of the will was necessary in all cases except that of a person claiming as heir of the person last admitted. In the case of a surrender the legal estate remained in the surrenderor till the surrenderee was admitted, and therefore the surrenderee had nothing to dispose of but his right to admittance, which could not be devised. Also the 12th section of the Statute of Frauds, whereby estates pur auter vie were made devisable, did not extend to copyholds. By the 1st section of the 1 Vict. c. 26, the last statute which relates to wills and testaments, the 55 Geo. III. c. 192, and the above-mentioned enactment of the Statute of Frauds, are repealed; and by the 3rd section the power of disposition by will is extended to customary freeholds and tenant right estates, and all estates of a customary or copyhold tenure, by the will; and when such real estate could not have been disposed of by will, except by virtue of the act, the same fine, heriot dues, duties, and services are to be paid and rendered by the devisee as would have been due from the customary heir in case of the descent of such real estate. And the lord is, as against the devisee, to have the same remedy for recovering and enforcing such fine, heriot dues, duties, and services as he is entitled to against the customary heir in case of a descent. By the 6th section, if no disposition by will be made of any estate pur auter vie of a freehold nature, the same is to be chargeable in the hands of the heir, if it come to him by reason of special occn without the necessity of any surrender or admittance, and notwithstanding the want of a custom to devise a surrender to the use of a will; and to all estates pur auter vie, whether of customary freehold, tenant right, customary, or copyhold tenure. The 4th section provides that where any real estate of the nature of customary freehold, or tenant right, or customary or copyhold, might by the custom of the manor of which the same is holden, have been surrendered to the use of a will, and the testator shall not have surrendered the same, no person claiming to be entitled under his will shall be entitled to be admitted, except upon payment of all such stampduties, fees, and sums of money as would have been due in respect of the surrender of such estate, or the presentment, regis-pancy, as assets by descent, as in the case tering, and enrolment of such surrender to the use of his will. And also, that where the testator, being entitled to admission to any real estate, and upon such admission to surrender the same to the use of his will, shall not have been admitted thereto, no person claiming to be entitled to such real estate in consequence of such will shall be entitled to admission, except on payment of all such stampduties, fees, fine, and sums of money as would have been due in respect of the admittance of the testator to such real estate, the surrender to the use of his will, the presentment, registering, or enrolment of such surrender; all such stamp-duties, fees, fine, or sums of money, to be paid in addition to the stamp-duties, fees, fine, or sums of money due on the admittance of the person so claiming to be entitled to such real estate. By the 5th section, when any real estate of the nature of customary freehold, or tenant right, or customary, or copyhold, is disposed of by will, the lord of the manor, or reputed manor, of which such real estate is holden, or his steward, or the deputy of such steward, is to cause the will by which such disposition is made, or an extract thereof, to be entered on the Court Rolls; and when any trusts are declared by the will, it is not to be necessary to enter the declaration of such trusts, but it is to be sufficient to state in the entry on the Court Rolls that such real estate is subject to the trusts declared of freehold land in fee simple; and in case there be no special occupant of any estate pur auter vie, whether freehold or customary freehold, tenant right, customary or copyhold, or of any other tenure, and whether a corporeal or incorporeal hereditament, it is to go to the executor or administrator of the party that had the estate by virtue of the grant; and if the estate come to the executor or administrator either by reason of a special occupancy or by virtue of the act, it is to be assets in his hands, and to go and be applied and distributed in the same manner as the personal estate of the testator or intestate. By the 26th section a general device of the testator's lands is to include copyholds, unless a contrary intention appear by the will; which is an alteration of the old rule whereby copyholds did not pass under a general device of "lands, tenements, and hereditaments," or other general words descriptive of real estate, unless the copy holds had been surrendered to the use of the will, or the testator had no freehold lands upon which it could operate. And besides the abovementioned changes relating peculiarly to copyholds, all the other enactments of the act, including that which prescribes the formalities to be observed in making a will, are applicable to estates of copy hold or customary tenure. Copyholds cannot be seized upon an outlawry, and not being expressly mentioned in the Statute of Westminster which introduced the elegit, could not be taken under it upon a judgment against the copy holder; but by the 11th section of the 1 & 2 Vict. c. 110, copyholds are made subject to execution by judgment creditors in the same manner as freeholds. Copyhold lands belonging to traders have been subjected to the operation of the bankrupt laws (stat. 6 Geo. IV. c. 16, § 68 and 69; 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74, § 66); and by stat. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 104, customary hold and copyhold lands which a man has not by his last will charged with or devised subject to the payment of his debts, are rendered assets to be administered in a court of equity for the payment both of specialty and simple contract debts. Copy holds are not liable (except by special custom) to the incidents of curtesy or dower. The latter, where authorized by the custom, is called the widow's "free bench." These estates, being considered continuations of that of the deceased tenant, are perfected without admittance. A purchaser or devisee of copyholds has an incomplete title until admittance, but the customary heir is so far legal owner of the land before admittance, that he can surrender it or maintain an action of trespass or ejectment in respect of it. The lord may by a temporary seizure of the land compel an heir or devisee to come in and be admitted; and he is himself compellable by a mandamus of the Court of King's Bench to admit any tenant, whether claiming by descent or otherwise. By the general custom of all manors, every copyholder may make a lease for any term of years, if he can obtain a licence from the lord, and even without such licence he may demise for one year, and in some manors for a longer term; and the interest thus created is not of a customary nature, but a legal estate for years, of the same kind as if it had been created out of a freehold interest. But every demise without licence for a longer period than the custom warrants, and in general, every alienation contrary to the nature of customary tenure, as a feoffment with livery of seisin, is followed by a forfeiture to the lord. A copyhold estate may also be forfeited by waste; as by cutting down timber, or opening mines, when such acts are not warranted by the custom. In the absence of such special custom, the general rule seems to be that the right of property both in trees and mines belongs to the lord, while only a possessory interest is vested in the tenant; but neither can the lord without the consent of the tenant, nor the tenant without the licence of the lord, cut down trees, or open and work new mines. In like manner forfeiture may be incurred by an inclosure or other alteration of the boundaries of an estate, refusal to attend the customary courts, or to perform the services, or to pay the rent or fine incident to the tenure. The 9th section of the 1 Wm. IV. c. 65, protects infants, lunatics, and married women from the last-mentioned cause of forfeiture. In case of felony or treason being committed by a copyholder, the lord has the absolute benefit of the forfeiture, unless it has been expressly provided otherwise by act of parliament. In all cases of forfeiture the lord may recover the forfeited estate by ejectment, without prejudice to the rights of the copyholders (if any there be) in reversion or remainder. He may waive the forfeiture by a subsequent act of recognition of the tenure. If he does not take advantage of the forfeiture for twenty years, his right to do so is barred by the act for the Limitation of Actions, 3 & 4 Wm. IV. And if he neglect to take advantage of the forfeiture in his life-time, his heir cannot avail himself of it. The lord may also become entitled to a customary tenement by escheat for want of heirs. Formerly where a copyhold was surrendered to a mortgagee and his heirs, and no condition was expressed in the surrender, and the mortgagee died intestate and without an heir, the lord was entitled to enter for escheat Το remedy this, the 4 & 5 Wm. IV. c. 23, enacts that where a trustee or mortgagee of lands of any tenure whatsoever dies without an heir, the Court of Chancery may appoint a person to convey or surrender the legal estate for the benefit of the persons entitled to the equitable interest in the property, and provides against the future escheat or forfeiture of lands |