Original: Customary tenants, the most significant of which were copyholders, held land by an agreement made at the manor court which was entered on its roll, a 'copy' of which was regarded as proof of title.
Simplified: People who rented houses, especially people called 'copyholders', made an agreement with the owner of the house at the manor court. They wrote the agreement in the court's record book. The person who rented the house got a copy of the agreement which they could show to prove that they were allowed to live in the house.