Surrender

Surrender was the formal procedure of returning a copyhold tenancy to the lord of the manor. It served several purposes: to transfer land between tenants (which required immediate re-granting), to execute a mortgage (‘conditional surrender’), to prepare for testamentary disposition (‘surrender to the uses of a will’), or to end a tenancy with no successor. All copyhold transfers required a surrender-and-admission procedure recorded in the court rolls. Married women surrendering property underwent a private examination by the seneschal to confirm their consent was freely given and not coerced by a husband.