California Code, Corporations Code - CORP § 18010

“Governing principles” means the principles stated in an unincorporated association's governing documents.  If an association has no governing documents or the governing documents do not include a provision governing an issue, the association's governing principles regarding that issue may be inferred from its established practices.  For the purpose of this section, “established practices” means the practices used by an unincorporated association without material change or exception during the most recent five years of its existence, or if it has existed for less than five years, during its entire existence.