Quoting Lev Lafayette ([email protected]):
> In an unincorporated association individual members are liable for debts
> of the organisation, and can be sued etc for actions of the association.
{sigh}
So can the individual members of an incorporated association, except
that finanicial liability is in the _general_ case limited to the net
assets of the corporation. The important thing to note about the
'corporate liability shield'[1] is that it covers _only_ liability
arising -merely- from ownership. It offers no protection whatsoever
from liability for deeds in which one has taken part (or is alleged to
have take part).
I stress that point because I've noticed there's a very common
(and, I would say, pernicious) misconception about incorporation being a
magic talisman against legal liability. It is widely believed -- in
error -- that the same deeds under a corporate umbrella are somehow
rendered safer. This is a dangerously false belief: Corporate entity
or no corporate entity, people face potential liability arising from
what they _do_ (or are alleged in court to have done). There is no way
around that.
> Incorporation (whether independently or as a subcommittee of a larger
> organisation) means that the association can sue, be sued, hold and be
> liable for property, etc., in its own right.
{sigh}
Unincorporated associations can own property. (Provably. I've already
covered this.) The principals of an unicorporated association can sue
or be sued.
> "Incorporation" makes an association a "legal person" in terms of
> contractual law.
That is correct. That fact is, however, often vastly overinterpreted.
> IANAL, but I have studied business and organisation law at the postgrad
> level. FWIW.
Likewise.
[1] Necessary disclaimer: I am very conversant with USA and UK law on
these matters, but not specifically with Australian law. The general
nature of limited liability corporations, however, is broadly similar in
many countries for obvious reasons of legal convergence and borrowings.
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