law: Co-Operative Societies Act 2008 
  22.
  
  Pre-registration contracts
  1.      Except as provided in
  
  this section, a person who enters into a written contract in the name of or on
  
  behalf of a society before it comes into existence is personally bound by the
  
  contract and is entitled to the benefits of the contract.
  2.      Within a reasonable
  
  time after a society comes into existence, it may, by any action or conduct
  
  signifying its intention to be bound thereof, adopt a written contract made in
  
  its name or on its behalf, before it came into existence.
  3.      Where a society
  
  adopts a contract pursuant to subsection (2)—
  a.     
  
    the
  
  society is bound by the contract and is entitled to the benefits thereof as if
  
  the society had been in existence at the date of the contract and had been a
  
  party to it; and
  b.    
  
    a
  
  person who purported to act in the name of the society or on its behalf ceases
  
  except as provided in subsection (4) to be bound by or entitled to the benefits
  
  of the contract.
  1.      
  2.      
  3.      
  4.      Except as provided in
  
  subsection (5), whether or not a written contract made before the coming into existence
  
  of a society is adopted by the society, a party to the contract may apply to a
  
  court for an order fixing the obligations under the contract as joint or joint
  
  and several, or apportioning liability between or among the society and a
  
  person who purported to act in the name of the society or on its behalf; and
  
  the court may upon the application make any order it thinks fit.
  5.      Where a written
  
  contract expressly provides that a person who purported to act in the name or
  
  on behalf of the society before it came into existence is not bound by the
  
  contract or entitled to the benefits of the contract, the person is deemed not
  
  to be bound by the contract nor to be entitled to the benefits of the contract.