Business partnership

“ The reason for this is a general rule of public policy that in a partnership the corporation would be bound by the acts of persons who are not its duly appointed agents and officers. There may be any number of members in a firm, such matters being left to the choice and wisdom of those operating the business. ”

“ The partnership had united the interests of a very few men, simplifying the problem by starting with members of the same family, who were naturally bound together. The relation of merchant and factor was another move in the right direction, as it united in loyal support of each other two men separated by considerable distance, and with no other common interest than that of their business. ”

“ THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTNERSHIP LAW.—There is a very common impression that partnership law is not as important now as formerly. This undoubtedly is true, as more and more large business enterprises are being conducted in the corporation form; but there is still a large amount of business done in the partnership form. What is most important, however, is the very informality of the type of business conducted under the partnership arrangement. Whether, in a given case, a partnership exists, becomes a vital question. ”

“ THE POWERS OF A PARTNER.—As a general agent, a partner has almost unlimited authority to bind the firm. Because of this, we have here one reason for not recommending the partnership form of doing business unless all the members of the firm have the utmost confidence in each other. These powers of the partners are so general that it is impossible for us to go into them in any detail. ”

“ If you alter one part of any bit of machinery you must readjust all the other parts in order to secure smooth working, and if by substituting big businesses for small businesses you destroy the old intimate connection which formerly existed between masters and men, it would appear to be necessary, if you wish to maintain the old friendly relations between employer and employed, that you should establish your business on lines which will automatically create a feeling of loyalty on the part of all concerned to the industry with which they are connected. ”

“ As an example of a co-partnership industry which divides all surplus profits that may remain after 5 per cent. has been paid on capital between custom and labor, one pound of purchase counting for as much in the division as one pound of wage, let me refer to the well-known Hebden Bridge Fustian Works. I commend to all interested in co-partnership questions a close study of this industry. Started by working men in 1870, it has built up on lines of permanent success a flourishing business, and is making sufficient profits to enable it to divide 9d. ”

“ When the existence of an alleged partnership arrangement is challenged by outsiders, the question arises whether the partners really and truly intended to join together for the purpose of carrying on business and sharing in the profits or losses or both. ”

“ Q. When you speak of purchasing their interest, you do not exclude them from their interest? They united with you and remained as your associates in the business?
A. If it was not from the fact that ours was a corporation, we might call it a co-partnership. ”

“ The nation is to be considered a partnership, the several members engaged in the various departments of business, and producing annually products of the value of $3,900,000,000, which are distributed among the partners, affording to each a certain share of profit. ”

“ Many of these corporations have grown out of partnerships and firms previously existing, and such is still the genesis of many of the corporations that come forward from time to time. In such a case of conversion from partnership or firm to corporation the rule is that the new corporation takes over a body of good-will, under one form and name or another, previously pertaining to the partnership which it displaces. ”

“ But, independently of any such stipulations, each partner possesses an equal and general power and authority, in behalf of the firm, to transact any business within the scope and objects of the partnership, and in the course of its trade and business. ”

“ FOR WHAT PURPOSES MAY A PARTNERSHIP BE CREATED.—A partnership may be created to carry on any lawful business, and whatever the individuals may do lawfully as such, two or more may do together in a group as a partnership. ”

“ PARTNERSHIP 66. In General. A party may trade and enter into contracts by himself, or he may associate with himself others. A person is not obliged by law to transact business solely by himself. He is permitted, for the purpose of having labor, capital and skill joined in one enterprise, to combine with others. ”

“ In other partnerships, the financial investment or interests are unevenly divided; and the one who holds more than half interest controls the business, unless otherwise provided for in the partnership agreement. Partners may be in name only, and not own any of the property. ”

“ When the employer is in danger of losing valuable assistants, he sometimes gives them a share in the business. In the ordinary partnership, two or more men divide the ownership and duties, agreeing as to the division of control. Coöperation among workmen, though rare, gives an unusual opportunity for the discovery of special talent. The dominant form of organization to-day is that of the stock company, or corporation, the ownership of which is divided among the holders of shares of stock, or of certificates of membership. ”

“ The element agency becomes quite conspicuous here, for each partner is an agent of the partnership and invested with plenary power to bind the other partners by his acts, when within the business sphere of the firm. ”

“ Committee on Competitiveness and Business Facilitation 1. The Parties recognise that, in order to enhance the domestic, regional and global competitiveness of their economies, and to promote economic integration and development within the free trade area, their business environments must be responsive to market developments. ”

“ Operating Feature and Working Organization.—Mutual agency is the essential operating feature of the partnership. By this is meant that any one of the partners can act for the others, and in the eyes of the law all are equally responsible for the management of the business. ”

“ Explain the advantages of industrial partnership, in which the employés share, in proportion to the wages received, half the profits of the business beyond a certain fixed minimum which is assigned to the employers. ”

“ The partnership is a joint undertaking by two or more individuals, and makes larger enterprises possible, but as each individual is liable for all obligations of the firm or his partners his personal liability is greatly increased. ”

“ In industrial enterprise as it was then carried on the prevailing unit of organisation was the private firm, with partnership concerns making up a secondary and less commonplace element in the business community. Ordinarily and typically205 these private firms and partnerships owned a certain material equipment employed in industry, and they took the initiative in industrial enterprise on the ground of this ownership; hiring the workmen, buying materials and supplies, and selling the products of the establishment. ”

“ What we want is a system which will safeguard the consumer, and also provide the worker with a natural, self-compelling inducement to help the industry with which he is connected. That system is provided by co-partnership. ”

“ They contend, moreover, and it is indeed admitted that, in spite of the great advantages which consumers’ production has in its command of a market and of abundant capital, only a small part of industry can ever be carried on by associations of the persons who actually consume the produce. Outside this small part, therefore, voluntary co-operation is impossible except as some form of co-partnership. ”

“ In a partnership the action of one partner with some exceptions, binds the whole partnership, so that rather than have several members to a partnership it is better to form a corporation. A partnership may borrow money and mortgage its property just the same as an individual. ”

“ You've got to get some diversion, or you'll go all to pieces. And you say it takes competition to get you excited. A stake. All right. Listen to me. In 1915, when I put you in to run the company, the partnership agreement was that you'd be the managing partner, but I'd be the directing partner wasn't it? ”

“ The co-partnership theory, on the other hand, maintains that the workers actually employed in any industry, whether distributive or productive, should be partners with those who find the capital, and those who buy the produce, and should share with them the profit, responsibilities and control. The consumers’ party contend that societies of producers make a profit out of the consumers, and thus are never truly co-operative, while as they multiply they must compete against each other. ”

“ It is because co-partnership harnesses to industry not only the muscle but the heart and the intelligence of the worker that we are justified in regarding it with reverence and enthusiasm as the principle of the future. ”

“ Neither do all the smaller firms include by any means all their employees in their profit-sharing schemes. The proportion varies from case to case, falling as low, in the case of one firm of manufacturers, whose scheme dates from 1889, as 50 out of 1,500, or 31⁄3 per cent. It is clear that in this and similar cases the co-partnership is really a tiny experiment carried on with a few picked employees and is of infinitesimal significance in the industrial life of the country. ”

“ From this definition corporations and companies, such as joint-stock companies and cost-book mining companies, which differ from ordinary partnerships in many important respects, are expressly excluded. ”

“ On the working-out of these two principles depends the future of co-operation. The example of Scotland probably throws light on the problem. There co-operative production, amounting to some millions sterling, is nearly all carried on by federations of consumers’ societies, including the Scottish Wholesale, which apply more or less successfully the co-partnership principle—i.e. their employees are admitted to share in profits, and may become members, whereby they are further admitted to share in capital and control. ”

“ This co-operation, to be effective, requires a genuine partnership, in which the body of stockholders and the body of working men plan together, work together, and share together, with the assistance of government commissions and boards that continually adjust and, if necessary, regulate the processes of production and distribution on a basis of equity, to be determined by a consensus of expert opinion. In such a system there is no radical derangement of existing industry, no destruction of initiative, no expulsion of expert management or confiscation of property. ”

“ And this recognition of the essential partnership in management between Associations of Producers and that Association of Consumers which is the community in one or other form, will, we suggest, take different shapes in different industries and services, in different countries, and at different periods; and, as we must add, will necessarily take time and thought to work out in detail. ”

“ A detailed statement of the relations between the partners, such as duties and powers, capital contributions, withdrawals of capital, salaries, division of profits and losses, interest on capital, and the time of closing the books to secure a definite determination of the partners’ interests.
Even when the utmost care is exercised in drafting the articles of partnership, it almost always happens that some portion is not understood alike by all or that some contingency arises not specifically provided for. ”

“ In any considerable change of personnel, the partnership rights of the factors will have to be considered; and one of the gravest and most difficult subjects of consideration will be, how to reconcile the rights of these gentlemen in a share of profit with that reorganization which the commercial interests of the Company evidently require. ”

“ My opinion is, that if there is one thing more easy than another, it is the settlement of partnership questions, and for the simple reason, that everything which is done in a partnership is entered in the books ”

“ Some progress in this latter direction is being made, there being a tendency to improve upon simple profit-sharing by capitalizing the workman’s “bonus,” whereby he becomes a shareholder, and the business is gradually modified in a co-operative direction. There are remarkable instances of such modification abroad, notably that of the great iron foundry and Familistère at Guise in France. ”

“ The co-partnership party answer that labour at least helps to make the profit, and that competition, as yet almost insignificant between their societies, can be avoided by federating them (a process long ago begun) for buying and selling in common, and for other common purposes, while leaving each the control and responsibility of its own internal affairs. They further advocate the eventual federation of the productive wing of co-operation with the distributive, for settling prices and all matters in which their interests might conflict. ”

“ Every partner must account to the partnership for any benefit, and hold as trustee for it any profits derived by him without the consent of the other partners from any transaction connected with the formation, conduct, or liquidation of the partnership or from any use by him of its property. ”

“ The partners in the Imperial firm must pursue each his own line to benefit himself, and so raise the reputation of the partnership as being composed of men of wealth and enterprise. In affairs affecting the standing and credit of the whole number, or of several, they may meet the senior in consultation, and, as each represents important property, a new policy is not likely to be adopted lightly, nor will any project calculated to enhance profits lack good backing. ”