Definition
A historical term from Anglo-Norman and early English legal usage denoting a privilege, liberty, or franchise — that is, a right or special authorization granted by a superior authority, typically the Crown, to an individual or institution. As a franchise or liberty, soona would describe a legally recognized entitlement to exercise some power or enjoy some benefit not available to the general public by common right.
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Why It Matters in Research
Soona is an archaic term with extremely limited circulation in the historical legal corpus. Researchers are most likely to encounter it in early English legal records, manor court documents, or treatises drawing on Norman-influenced terminology. Its practical significance lies almost entirely in its synonymy with the broader constellation of terms describing franchises and liberties in feudal and early common law contexts — terms that carry substantial doctrinal weight even if soona itself does not.
Because Black's 2nd Edition cites only Cowell (John Cowell's *The Interpreter*, first published 1607) as authority, soona appears to have been a term of antiquarian interest even by the time of early modern legal writing. Researchers working in primary sources from the medieval or early modern English periods should treat soona as a local or specialized variant rather than a term in general legal circulation. It is unlikely to appear in case reporters or statutes; its natural habitat is glossaries, custumals, and legal dictionaries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
If researching the substantive concept — the grant of a privilege or franchise by Crown authority — researchers should pivot immediately to the richer doctrinal literature under FRANCHISE, LIBERTY, and PRIVILEGE, where case law and statutory treatment are abundant.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) provides the sole entry in the Law Mind corpus, defining soona simply as "[a] privilege, liberty, or franchise" and attributing the definition entirely to Cowell. This is a thin evidentiary base. Cowell's *The Interpreter* was a glossary of legal and antiquarian terms drawing heavily on Norman French and Latin sources, and it included many terms that never achieved widespread legal usage in English courts.
The three synonyms offered — privilege, liberty, and franchise — are themselves distinct legal concepts in developed common law doctrine, which suggests that soona was a general or undifferentiated term in its original context rather than a term of precision. The historical dictionaries offer no further differentiation among these meanings, no case authority, and no statutory usage. Researchers should treat this entry as a linguistic artifact rather than a living doctrinal term.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: FRANCHISE; LIBERTY (Legal Concept)
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