Articles of association

In corporate governance, a company's articles of association (called articles of incorporation in some jurisdictions) is a document which, along with the memorandum of association (in cases where the memorandum exists) form the company's constitution, defines the responsibilities of the directors, the kind of business to be undertaken, and the means by which the shareholders exert control over the board of directors.

Overview

A company is an incorporated body so there should be some rules and regulations formed for the management of its internal affairs and conduct of its business as well as the relation between the members and the company. Moreover, the rights and duties of its members and the company are to be recorded. This is why Articles of Association are necessary. The Articles of Association is a document that contains the purpose of the company as well as the duties and responsibilities of its members defined and recorded clearly. It is an important document which needs to be filed with the Registrar of Companies.

Continental Association

The Continental Association, often known simply as the "Association", was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain. Congress hoped that by imposing economic sanctions, they would pressure Great Britain into redressing the grievances of the colonies, in particular repealing the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament. The Association aimed to alter Britain's policies towards the colonies without severing allegiance.

The boycott became operative on December 1, 1774. The Association was fairly successful while it lasted. Trade with Great Britain fell sharply, and the British responded with the New England Restraining Act of 1775. The outbreak of the American Revolutionary War effectively superseded the attempt to boycott British goods.

Background

The British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to reform colonial administration in British America and, in part, to punish the Province of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. Many American colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a violation of the British Constitution and a threat to the liberties of all of British America, not just Massachusetts. As they had done during the 1760s—most effectively during the Stamp Act crisis of 1765—colonists turned to economic boycotts to protest what they saw as unconstitutional legislation. The word boycott had not yet been coined; colonists referred to their economic protests as, depending upon the specific activity, "non-importation", "non-exportation", or "non-consumption".