Soke (legal)
The term
soke (/ˈsoʊk/; in Old English:
soc, connected ultimately with
secan (to seek)), at the time of the Norman conquest of England generally denoted "jurisdiction", but due to vague usage probably lacks a single precise definition. In some cases
soke denoted the right to hold a court, and in others only the right to receive the fines and forfeitures of the men over whom it was granted when they had been condemned in a court of competent jurisdiction. Its primary meaning seems to have involved
seeking; thus
soka faldae was the duty of seeking the lord's court, just as
secta ad molendinum was the duty of seeking the lord's mill. The Leges also speaks of pleas
in socna, id est, in quaestione sua (pleas which are in his investigation). Evidently, however, not long after the Norman Conquest considerable doubt prevailed about the correct meaning of the word. In some versions of the much-used tract
Interpretationes uocabulorum soke is defined:
aver fraunc court, and in others as
interpellacio maioris audientiae, which glosses somewhat ambiguously as
claim ajustis et requeste.