Manorial roll

A manorial roll or court roll is the roll or record kept of the activities of a manorial court, in particular containing entries relating to the rents and holdings, deaths, alienations, and successions of the customary tenants or copyholders.

[1] The records were invariably kept in roll form in the Middle Ages, but in the post-medieval period were more usually entered into volumes.

Entries usually began with the date; a list of jurors (selected from the manor); and apologies and/or fines for those manorial tenants unable to attend the court.

General matters such as a failure to maintain highways or gates are followed by specific items such as the death and inheritance of a tenant since the last court, and any surrenders of land, forfeits, or licences to let.

Where land changed hands between customary tenants, a copy of the relevant entry in the court roll constituted the tenant's evidence of title to his holding, and this form of land tenure therefore became known as copyhold.