In the United States, treaty-making power lies with the President, with consent of the Senate. That means that the President (usually the President's representatives) negotiates, drafts, and signs all treaties. Until the Senate consents, however, the signed treaty has no force. The President may choose to submit the treaty to the Senate immediately, or wait until there is a greater likelihood of obtaining the necessary two-thirds vote. Many treaties signed by the United States have never been ratified, not because Senate rejected them, but because they were withdrawn from the Senate or never submitted by the President. If the Senate approves, the treaty is officially ratified and proclaimed by the President. Note that "executive agreements" (which are less formal than treaties) may be concluded by the President without consent of the Senate, under his constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs. For further information, see Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate (Comm. Print 1993), 4^th Floor, KF 4989 .A25 1993.

1. Databases

Services such as Lexis, Westlaw, and TIARA can be extremely useful in several situations. First, if you do not need an official source, databases offer quick access to the treaty texts. Second, if you are collecting sources for a law review article, or an official treaty version, electronic resources can be efficient ways to find citations. Third, you may need to search online to find the text of treaties not yet available in print. Note that none of these databases currently includes UST pagination.

U.S. Treaties on LEXIS (INTLAW; USTRTY): As of April 2000, this database is no longer licensed from Oceana. It remains, however, enormous in scope with over 13,000 fulltext documents. Lexis claims two important improvements over TIARA. First, it has broader coverage of historical, unratified treaties. Second, it is more frequently updated, and has more current information. All documents are obtained through official government sources, such as the State Department, the U.S. Senate, and publications like UST, TIAS, and Bevans. Like TIARA, it allows for various searching options. This database has several relatively short gaps in coverage, so there's a chance you might not find existing documents.

TIARA U.S. Treaties Researcher, Available from Electronic Resources page, or http://www.oceanalaw.com/default.asp: TIARA, a commercial service published by Oceana, features the text of over 12,000 treaties ratified by the U.S. from 1783 to present. You can search in indexed fields (country, date, location, subject, etc…) and in full-text. TIARA is a great place to go for unofficial treaty texts, and for parallel citations. Note that when you begin using TIARA, you must select "Treaties and International Agreements Online" from the pull-down menu. Second note: only one user can access TIARA at a time, so if someone else is logged on (or has forgotten to log off!), you will need to wait or try something else.

U.S. Treaties on Westlaw (USTREATIES): Includes TIAS (1979 to present), Senate Treaty Documents (1993 to present), and State Department Documents (1989 to present). Doesn't have the coverage of TIARA or Lexis, but this is a good source for recent treaties and related documents.

Private International Law, U.S. State Department Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Private International Law, http://www.state.gov/s/l/c3452.htm: This site includes links to the text of many U.S. treaties in force or under consideration. Subject areas include trade / business transactions law, family law, judicial assistance, and wills, trusts and estates.

2. Treaty Indexes

If the treaty is in force, use Treaties In Force; a List of Treaties and Other International Agreements of The United States (Ref Drawer, JX236 1955); or Kavass, A Guide to the United States Treaties in Force (Ref, JX235.9 G942). If it is out of force, try United States Treaty Index (2^nd Floor, JX231 K174), TIARA (above), Lexis, or Westlaw

Treaties in Force, Ref Drawer, JX 236 1955: Published annually by the State Department, this is the official index to United States treaties in force. It is also the foundation upon which Kavass' Guide to the United States Treaties in Force (see below) is built. It has a single volume, comprised of two lists. The first is for bilateral agreements, and is organized by country. The second is for multilateral agreements, and is arranged by subject. There is no subject index for bilateral treaties. (Also online at http://www.state.gov/s/l/c8455.htm, and on Lexis, INTLAW;USTIF).

A Guide to the United States Treaties in Force, Reference -- JX235.9 G942: Published annually by William S. Hein & Co., this three-volume set is an expanded version of Treaties in Force (discussed above). The most recent version is in reference office, and previous editions (back to 1984) are on the 2^nd floor. Includes various finding aids, including:
            By Citation (Numerical List): If you have a citation, and want a very brief account of the treaty's subject and signatories, look in Book One. Also a great place to find parallel cites to other treaty sets.
            By Country: Alphabetical list of countries with which the United States has a current treaty. Note that there are separate lists for bilateral, and multilateral treaties, so if you're not sure, you'll have to look in both places. For each country, there is a brief subject heading (e.g., postal matters, cultural relations, etc…) and a list of citations.
            By Subject: Within each broad subject category, this list is subdivided by country. Agreement descriptions are noted chronologically, and include place and date of signing, date of entry into force, parallel citations, and cross-references to related instruments.

United States Treaty Index, 2^nd Floor (finding aids) – JX231 K174: Also published by Hein, this comprehensive tool covers U.S. treaties from 1776 to present, whether ratified or not. Most volumes are revised through 1995, but there is a consolidated, bound supplement. You can access the set by treaty number, subject, country, title, and date. The first five volumes contain the "master guide," organized by treaty number. For each treaty in this section, you will learn if there are parallel citations, when and where it was signed, when it entered into force, and subsequent activity. It does not tell you whether the treaty is currently in force (see Treaties in Force). The other indexes only provide enough information to lead you back to the Master Guide.

Current Treaty Index, 2^nd Floor (finding aids) – JX 231 K174: The Current Treaty Index is a looseleaf service (revised twice a year) that exists as a companion to the United States Treaty Index. Because it is less than a year out of date, it can be especially useful for finding information about recent U.S. treaties. You can search by cite, country, date, or subject.

3. Pending / Recent Treaties

Recent U.S. treaties generally do not find their way into print for a year or more. There are, however, sources available that either provide full-text or status updates. Many of these are electronic. For example, Westlaw and Lexis (described above) tend to upload treaty documents relatively quickly. Another option is to search the web site of the Federal agencies affected by the subject matter of the treaty you're seeking. For instance, try the Commerce Department or U.S. Trade Representative's pages for commercial or free trade agreements (see Part 3 below). For recent U.S. agreements not available elsewhere, it may be possible to get assistance from the Treaty Affairs Staff in the Legal Advisor's Office of the U.S. State Department (202-647­2044). The following are some other options.

Congressional Index, Reference – P C7612: Recent editions in reference, earlier in cellar. The Congressional Index includes a "Treaties – Nominations" section that summarizes treaty documents, and provides citations to Senate Executive Reports when available. This section also includes a subject index. Published by CCH, the Congressional Index is regularly supplemented, and is currently less than two months out of date.

U.S. Senate, Legislative Activities, Treaties, http://www.senate.gov/legislative/legis_act_treaties.html: This site lists all treaties received, under consideration, or approved by the Senate during the current session of Congress.

Treaty Actions, http://www.state.gov/s/l/c3428.htm: The apparent successor to Dispatch (see below), this internet resource provides a chronological listing of recent U.S. treaty activity. Links to archived treaty actions beginning in 1997.

U.S. Department of State Dispatch, Reserve and Microfiche – JX232 Un311: Published from 1990 – 1999, Dispatch contained status information on U.S. treaty actions, including date and place of signing, and ratification date. Continues the Department of State Bulletin. Back issues from 1993 – 1999 are available at http://www.state.gov/www/publications/dispatch/index.html

GPO Access – Senate, House, and Treaty Documents, http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong006.html: Here, you can try full-text searches for treaties sent to the Senate beginning with the 104^th Congress (1995).

Congressional Record Online, available via Lexis, Westlaw, Congressional Universe, Thomas, or GPO Access. The Congressional Record is an excellent resource for finding out what activity, if any, the Senate has taken with respect to treaties signed, but not yet ratified, by the United States. Search by the name of the convention, and often you will find floor statements that shed some light.

4. Treaties in Print: Current

Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) 2^nd Floor - JX235.9 A4: The first place where ratified U.S. treaties and executive agreements are officially published. Note that the treaties often include both English and the language of the other party or parties. They arrive in consecutively numbered, individually paginated pamphlets, and are kept on reserve. Periodically these are bound and moved to the 2^nd floor. TIAS is approximately five years out of date. According to the bluebook, cite only to TIAS when the treaty has not yet been printed in UST. (rule 20.4.5)

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST) 2^nd Floor – JX 235.9 A5: This set is virtually the same as TIAS, except it comes out irregularly in annual, pre-bound chunks. UST is woefully out of date – it is only now publishing treaties signed more than 15 years ago. According to the bluebook, however, researchers should cite to UST whenever possible (rule 20.4.5(a)(i)). When there are more than two parties, cite to UST and an inter-governmental source such as UNTS (rule 20.4.5(a)(ii)).

Treaty Documents, Executive Documents, and Executive Reports, 2^nd Floor – JX 231 SE54 / 55: After signing, treaties are referred by the president to the Senate for ratification. All treaties and conventions submitted to the Senate for consideration, whether or not they ever go into force, are published individually as Treaty Documents. (The predecessor, Executive Documents, published selected treaties from 1921 until 1980). From 1981 (97^th Congress) to 1992 (102^nd Congress), Treaty Documents were bound in annual installments. Starting in 1993 (103^rd Congress), however, each treaty document has been individually bound and cataloged. A companion set, Executive Reports, contains the text of the Senate committee reports for each treaty. Both Treaty Documents and Executive Reports are 1-2 years out of date.

Hein's United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (KAV) 2^nd Floor Microfiche – Cabinet 49: You may run across KAV numbers during treaty research, especially when using other Kavass products like Guide to the United States Treaties in Force, or the Current Treaty Index. KAV is a citation to the Hein set which is generally used as a source for current treaties. Cite to KAV only when TIAS is not yet available.

Consolidated Treaties & International Agreements (CTIA), 2^nd Floor – JX 235.9 C765: Conceived as a current document service when it began in 1991, CTIA continues to publish both ratified and not-yet-ratified U.S. treaties and executive agreements, in numerical order. It is issued quarterly by Oceana, and generally stays current to within a year or so. Documents are published in CTIA before the government issues TIAS numbers, so you won't have access that way. If you know when the treaty you are interested in was signed, or you have a state department or treaty document number, this is a fast resource.

5. Treaties in Print: Historic

United States Statutes at Large (STAT) 4^th Floor – S A.2: Before 1950, Statutes at Large was the official source for United States treaties. Volumes 7 and 8 include all treaties from 1776-1845. From then on, treaties were published by session. With the inception of UST in 1950, Statutes at Large ceased publication of treaties.

Treaties and Other International Agreements of the U.S.A. 1776-1949 (Bevans), 2^nd Floor – JX236 1968: This set replaces two earlier compilations (Malloy and Miller – see below) by reprinting all pre-UST, United States treaties. The first four volumes contain multilateral treaties in chronological order. Volumes 5-12 include bilateral treaties arranged by country. The index appears in volume 13.

Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols, and Agreements Between the United States of America and Other Powers (Malloy), 2^nd Floor – JX 236 1910: Contains the text of treaties, in English, from 1776-1923. Includes indexes in volume 4, and parallel citations to Statutes at Large and Treaty Series throughout. Superceded by Bevans.

Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (Miller), 2^nd Floor – JX236 1931: Covering treaties from 1776-1836, this set includes both English and other languages. For each treaty reprinted, there are parallel citations to Statutes at Large, and Treaty Series. Like Malloy, Miller has been superceded by Bevans

Treaty Series (TS), 2^nd Floor – JX 235.9 A2: Covered U.S. treaties from 1913 (no. 578) to 1945 (no. 994), and included executive agreements until 1930. These individually numbered agreements were originally published as pamphlets, then bound. Ended in 1945 when TIAS began.

Executive Agreement Series (EAS), 2^nd Floor – JX 235.9 A3: Another predecessor of TIAS, the EAS published individually numbered executive agreements from 1930 (no. 1) to 1945 (no. 506).

Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America, 2^nd Floor – JX 236 1976: This nine volume set contains the texts of treaties that were signed between 1784 and 1975, but never ratified. All are in English, and some include the language of the other party.