LEGAL PHASES OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS. 2s 
assets belong to the members of a corporation on its dissolution ap- 
plies to nonstock ** as well as to stock corporations. If those in- 
terested in a corporation continue to do business in its name after 
the expiration of the charter or after the dissolution of the corpora- 
tion in any other manner, they incur persgnal seonancllaliy, and 
liability in the matter. : 
CONTRACTS. 
NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS. 
A contract has been defined as an agreement between competent 
parties, upon sufficient consideration, to do or not to do a particular 
lawful thing.** In order to be binding and enforceable a contract 
must possess mutuality; that is, both parties must be bound, or neither 
will be. For instance, if one party agrees to sell a certain article, 
the other must agree to buy, or the agreement is void.”* A contract 
or agreement by which a member of a cooperative association ap- 
points the association his agent for the sale and marketing of his 
products, to be valid should also contain a provision in which the 
association agrees to act as such agent and do the work in question. 
A contract. should be in writing and signed by both parties. It 
should clearly and fully set forth the rights, duties, and obligations 
of each of the parties. Particular care should be taken to make 
certain that the contract is clear upon every point involved. For 
when parties to a contract have apparently set forth in writing the 
understanding between them with reference to the matter involved, 
it is presumed to represent the entire agreement of the parties 
thereto, and ordinarily it cannot be successfully disputed by oral 
evidence. Every legitimate matter is a proper subject for contract. 
The law of contracts underlies the entire field of business and 
enters into every commercial transaction. 
CROP CONTRACTS. 
One may enter into a valid contract with another under which 
he agrees to deliver the crop to be grown upon certain Jand or a 
part thereof.** The number of cases involving crop contracts of 
cooperative associations which have come before appellate courts for 
construction are few. One of the most recent decisions is that 
involving a cranberry association of the State of Washington. In 
this case the supreme court of that State said: 
73 Hopkins v. Crossley, 138 Mich. 561. 
7% Blackstone’s Comm. Book II, 442. 
7% American Oil Co. v. Kirk, 68 Fed. 791. 
7% Butt v. Ellett 19 Wall 544; Briggs v. U. S., 143 U. S. 346. 
™ Washington Cranberry Growers Association v. Moore, (Wash.) 201 Pac. 773, 204 
Pace. 811. 
