Q."A Co-operative Society and a Joint Stock Company are both examples of a separate legal entity, but a Sole Proprietorship is not." Explain this statement briefly.

Separate legal entity is the single biggest structural line dividing this chapter's two institutional forms from the non-corporate forms in the companion chapter.

The statement is accurate and captures one of the most important structural distinctions in this chapter (and its companion, Part I).

A Co-operative Society, once registered under the relevant Co-operative Societies Act, and a Joint Stock Company, once incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, each acquire a legal identity that is distinct from their members/shareholders. Each can own property, enter contracts, and sue or be sued in its own name — the members themselves are legally separate from the organisation they belong to. …