The Indian Association Act, 1932, section 4, defined the association as "the relationship between people who have agreed to share the business benefits of all or some of them acting for all." The Uniform Association Act of the United States defined an association "as an association of two or more persons to conduct as co-owners of a for-profit enterprise."
According to J. L. Hanson, "a company is a form of business organization in which two or more people up to a maximum of twenty join to undertake some business activity." Now, we can define the partnership as an association of two or more people who have agreed to share the benefits of a business running together. This business can be carried out by all or any of them acting for all.
The people who own the business of the association are individually called "partners" and collectively are called as "company" or "partnership company". The name under which the business of the company is carried out is called "company name". In a way, the signature is merely an abbreviation of partners.