TREATY

In Law, an agreement between two or more independent states. Grotius (De Jure Belli et Pads, 1. ii. ch. 15. s. 5.) divides treaties into two cla es: those which turn on things to which the contracting parties are already bound by the law of nature, such as mutual amity, commerce, .; and those which contain stipulations for something more, such as treaties regulating boundaries, conceding particular powers, ^c. The municipal constitution, in every state, determines in whom resides the authority to make and to ratify treaties. In most monarchies it is vested in the sovereign; in republics, in the chief magistrate, senate, or executive council; in federal states, sometimes exclusively in the federal authority, as in the United States; while in the Germanic federation the particular states retain the right of making treaties of alliance and commerce not inconsistent with the fundamental laws of the confederation. In order to enable a public minister or other diplomatic agent to conclude and sign a treaty, he must be furnished with a full power; and when so concluded the treaty is binding on the state, in the same manner as an agent is bound by the act of his principal. But the question how far, and in what cases, ratification is nece ary, has been the subject of much debate among writers on international law. It is usual to reserve a power to ratify in the treaty itself. It is nece ary also, in most constitutional governments, for the sanction of the legislative body to be subsequently given to treaties of commerce, or imposing taxes on the people, entered into by the executive. Thus the government of Great Britain, when making treaties, granting subsidies, . usually stipulates that the king will recommend to parliament to make the grant nece ary for the purpose; but under the constitution of the United States, it has been thought that congre is bound to sanction treaties in general made by the president with the advice and consent of the senate. Treaties have been divided into real and personal: the former of which are said to bind the contracting parties, independently of any change of sovereignty or in the rulers of the state; the latter are made with expre reference to the person of the actual ruler. But treaties properly so called, as of friendship and alliances, commerce and navigation, even if perpetual in terms, are said to expire — 1. In case either of the contracting parties cease to be an independent state; 2. When the internal constitution of government is so changed as to render the treaty no longer applicable. In this they differ from what are called transitory conventions, which pa from one government to another; such as treaties of ce ion, boundary, . (See Wicquefort, book ii.; Vattel, book ii.; Schoell, Hist, des Traites de Paix, 4 vols. Bru els, 1817.) [s. 1268]