  The expressiveness of propositional non-clausal (NC) formulas is
exponentially richer than that of clausal formulas. Yet, clausal efficiency
outperforms non-clausal one. Indeed, a major weakness of the latter is that,
while Horn clausal formulas, along with Horn algorithms, are crucial for the
high efficiency of clausal reasoning, no Horn-like formulas in non-clausal form
had been proposed. To overcome such weakness, we define the hybrid class
$\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ of Horn Non-Clausal (Horn-NC) formulas, by adequately lifting
the Horn pattern to NC form, and argue that $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$, along with
future Horn-NC algorithms, shall increase non-clausal efficiency just as the
Horn class has increased clausal efficiency. Secondly, we: (i) give the
compact, inductive definition of $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$; (ii) prove that
syntactically $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ subsumes the Horn class but semantically both
classes are equivalent, and (iii) characterize the non-clausal formulas
belonging to $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$. Thirdly, we define the Non-Clausal
Unit-Resolution calculus, $UR_{NC}$, and prove that it checks the
satisfiability of $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ in polynomial time. This fact, to our
knowledge, makes $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ the first characterized polynomial class in
NC reasoning. Finally, we prove that $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ is linearly
recognizable, and also that it is both strictly succincter and exponentially
richer than the Horn class. We discuss that in NC automated reasoning, e.g.
satisfiability solving, theorem proving, logic programming, etc., can directly
benefit from $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ and $UR_{NC}$ and that, as a by-product of its
proved properties, $\mathbb{H_{NC}}$ arises as a new alternative to analyze
Horn functions and implication systems.
