LEGAL PHASES OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIOlSrS. 59 



a vote to incur further expenses for an exhibition with premiums, or as assented 

 to be bound by such vote, would be bound thereby. 



In other words, only those members were liable who authorized 

 the exhibition with premiums or who later ratified the act of hold- 

 ing such an exhibition. The other members were not liable. 



In a Michigan case '^^ the members of a building committee of an 

 unincorporated religious society ordered lumber of a lumber dealer 

 for the building of a church. A dispute arose, and the lumber dealer 

 brought suit against the members of the building committee and 

 won. In holding the defendants liable, the court said : 



The church organization had no legal existence — it could neither sue nor be 

 sued. The members of the society were not partners. Those of the society who 

 were actually instrumental in incurring the liabilities for it are liable as either 

 principals or agents having no legal principal behind them. Members of the 

 society who either authorized or ratified the transaction are liable, while 

 those who did not are exempt from liability. 



All the authorities apparently agree that if the debt or obligation 

 in question was necessarily incurred for the express purpose for 

 which the association was formed each member thereof is liable. In 

 a South Dakota case ^^ the following language was used with refer- 

 ence to this matter : 



Each member of an unincorporated or voluntary association is liable for the 

 debts thereof incurred during his period of membership and which had been 

 necessarily contracted for the purpose of carrying out the objects for which 

 the association was formed. 



Where an unincorporated association is organized and operated for 

 profit the members are generally held liable as partners to third 

 persons. This obligation is imposed by law on the members of such 

 an association, and it is immaterial what the rules of the association 

 provide on the subject of liability.^*^ In a California case^^ suit was 

 brought by the plaintiff against the defendant association, which 

 was unincorporated, and certain of its members to recover the sale 

 price of goods purchased by the association for use in its business. 

 The association was composed of 19 members. The defendant recov- 

 ered an individual judgment against two of the members of the 

 association, and they appealed on the ground that they could not be 

 held individually responsible for the claim of the plaintiff. In af- 

 firming the judgment of the lower court the Court of Appeals of 

 California said that the case came within the rule announced in 

 volume 5, Corpus Juris, 1362, 1373, as follows : 



''s Clark v. O'Rourke, 111 Mich. 108, 69 N. W. 147, 66 Amer. St. Rep. 389. 



''s Lynn v. Commercial Club of Witten, 41 S. D. 401, 141 N. W. 471 ; see also Little 

 Rock Furniture Mfg. Co. v. Kavanaugh, 111 Ark. 575, 164 S. W. 289 ; Schumacher v. 

 Sumner Tel. Co., 161 Iowa 326, 142 N. W. 1034. 



8« Bennett v. Lathrop, 71 Conn. 613, 42 Atl, 634, 71 Am. St. R. 222. 



81 Webster v. San Joaquin Fruit, etc., Ass'n., 32 Cal. App. 264, 162 Pac. 654. 



