The act of a number of persons who unite or join together for some special purpose or business. The union of a company of persons for the transaction of designated affairs, or the attainment of some common object. An unincorporated society; a body of persons united and acting together without a charter, but upon the methods and forms used by incorporated bodies for the prosecution of some common enterprise. Allen v. Stevens, 33 App. Div. 485, 54 N. T. Supp. 23; Pratt v. Asylum, 20 App. Div. 352, 46 N. Y. Supp. 1035; State v. Steele, 37 Minn. 42S, 34 N. W. 903; Mills v. State, 23 Tex. 303; Laycock v. State, 136 Ind. 217, 36 N. E. 137. In English law. A writ directing certain persons (usually the clerk and his subordinate officers) to associate themselves with the justices and sergeants for the purposes of taking the assises. 3 Bl. Comm. 59, 60.