User Guides Subject Guides > Government, Law & Politics — Treaties

When searching for treaties, it is necessary to determine which and how many sovereignties signed the treaty. A treaty may be bi-lateral, a treaty between two sovereignties, or it may be multi-lateral, a treaty among several sovereignties. Treaties may also be considered international, dealing with a topic common to all such as the law of the sea or drawn up an international organization such as the United Nations. Treaties of which the United States is a signatory may be easier to find than those of which they are not a signatory.

The Library has a number of sources covering historical and current treaties.  Listed below are selected sources. Other sources may be found in the HELIN Catalog under the subject "Treaties-Collections," the name of the country with the subheading "Treaties" (e.g. "Canada-Treaties"), or the name of the treaty (e.g. "Treaty of Versailles"). Information on the treaty making process and how to do treaty research may be found in Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate: A Study (Govt. Pub. Y 4.F 76/2: S. Prt. 106-71 or, accessible at: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS11656) and  also in ASIL Guide to Electronic Resources for International Law: Treaties (accessible at www.asil.org/resource/treaty1.htm). 

Finally, many sources publish historical treaties, still in force or not, but finding treaties signed within the past 5-10 years can be problematic. The finding aids listed in "Recent Treaties" section below may be of assistance. The text of all treaties are in English unless otherwise noted.

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United States treaties | Treaties with Native American Nations
Non-United States Treaties | International treaties
Treaties on oceans and the Law of the Sea | Recent treaties

Listed below are sources and finding aids for treaties of which the United States was a signatory. Indian treaties are listed separately.

URI Serial JX232 .A33  v.1(1939)-v.89(1989). MFILM, v.78(1978)-v.89(1989).

The Department of State Bulletin. Weekly 1939-1977, monthly 1978-1989.

Periodical on the activities of the State Department includes a record of treaty actions with dates, signatories and status of the treaty. Subject index included at the end of each volume.

URI Serial JX233 .A3

Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS). 1870-. Continues Diplomatic Correspondence. 1783-1868.

“The official public record of United States foreign policy” does not include the text of treaties but does include any correspondence and papers that relate to a particular treaty. Index by subject at the end of each volume.

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/gov.html

Treaties and International Agreements Online.

Database of over 15,000 treaties from 1783 to the present of which the United States is a signatory. Un-ratified treaties and treaties no longer in force are also included. Additional pertinent material such as correspondence is included for some treaties. The database may be searched by title, subject, signatory, citation, date or keyword. Treaties are displayed as a text file with full image display optional.

URI JX236 1931a

Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America. Edited by Hunter Miller. 8 vols.

Text of U.S. treaties up to 1863, largely replaced by Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America (Bevans) (see below), but includes some small claims agreements not included in Bevans and it may be borrowed. Volume 1 was never published in its final form.

URI Serial JX231 .A34

Treaties and Other International Acts Series. Current issues only. Irregular.

“Advance service” for the released text of treaties. Treaties are assigned a TIAS number as they are released for publication and published as separate pamphlets. The material is reissued in hardbound volumes under United States Treaties and Other Agreements (see below). Even though this source is supposed to be an advance service, publication of treaties has been lagging by almost 10 years.

URI Ref  JX231 1968 A5

Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, 1776-1949. Compiled under the direction of Charles I. Bevans. 10 vols.

Authoritative text of all treaties signed by the U.S. during this time period. Volumes 1-4 consist of multilateral treaties arranged by date.  Volumes 5-12 consist of bilateral treaties arranged alphabetically by country and then by date. Separate index volume indexes by subject, country, and popular name of treaty.

http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS4126

URI Ref  JX236.5 .T73 

Treaties in Force. 1955-. Annual (earlier volumes in Serial Stacks).

List of all treaties currently in force of which the U.S. is a signatory.  Bilateral treaties are arranged by country, then by date. Multilateral treaties are arranged by subject, then by date. For each treaty a short summary and the citation are given. Online version is a PDF file of the latest print edition.

URI GovtPub. S 1.3/5:

US Department of State Dispatch. Monthly. v.1(1990)-v.10(1999).

Successor to Department of State Bulletin includes a list of treaty actions with dates, signatories, and status. Index by subject included at the end of each volume.

URI Serial JX231 .A34

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements. v.1(1950)-v.35(1983/84). Irregular.

Bound official text of treaties signed by the United States since 1950.  Arranged by TIAS number which is assigned as the treaties are released for publication. No index. “Advance service” provided by Treaties and Other International Acts Series (see above).

URI Ref KF8202 1999

Documents of American Indian Diplomacy: Treaties, Agreements, and Conventions, 1775-1979.  2 vols.

Text of treaties with Native American Nations since the Revolutionary War. Contains many treaties not published in Kappler (see below) as well as un-ratified and rejected treaties. Citations to the original text are included. Index by subject, location, and tribal name.

URI Ref KF8202 1979

Early American Indian Documents: Treaties and Laws, 1607-1789. Vols. 1-2, 4-7.

Multivolume set of treaties from the colonial era. Volumes arranged by state with the text arranged chronologically. No index but there is a detailed table of contents at the beginning of each volume. URI's set of this publication is incomplete.

URI GovtPub. Y 4.IN 2/2:L 44/

Indian Affairs:  Laws and Treaties.  Compiled, annotated, and edited by Charles J. Kappler. 7 vols.

Considered the definitive authority on Native American Nations treaties.  First two volumes contain the text of treaties.

URI Ref  KF8202 1985

Rifle, Blanket and Kettle:  Selected Indian Treaties and Laws.

Text of historically significant treaties and laws concerning Native American Nations rights and claims. Arranged by date. Coverage is from 1682 to 1959. Index by subject.

Listed below are sources and finding aids for treaties of which the United States was not a signatory.

URI KZ120 .P35 1969

The Consolidated Treaty Series. Vols. 1-110.

Text of major world treaties from the rise of the modern nation state in 1648. Treaties are printed in their original language with translations if available. Arranged in chronological order. URI's set of this publication is incomplete and only covers the years 1648-1853.

URI JX151 .O3 1921

The Great European Treaties of the Nineteenth Century.

Analysis and discussion of 12 major treaties includes the text of the treaty at the end of each analysis. Index by treaty, country, and subject.

URI Ref  JX151 .H87

Hurst, Michael. Key Treaties for the Great Powers, 1814-1914. 2 vols.

Text of the major treaties of European nations arranged in chronological order. Index by subject.

Listed below are sources and finding aids for treaties which cover issues of concern to all nations or which are drawn up by an international agency. The United States may or may not be a signatory. Sources for treaties on oceans and law of the sea are listed separately.

http://www.polarlaw.org/Treaty.htm

Antarctic Treaty Papers.

All activities in Antarctica are governed by the Antarctic Treaty. This site, sponsored by the American Society of International Law, offers the full text of the Antarctic Treaty and all related documents.

http://www.eisil.org/

EISIL: Electronic Information System for International Law.

Database of primary sources for international law in electronic format including treaties and treaty collections. Arranged by topic. "Treaty Collections" is one topic but treaties may also be found under the other topics. Each entry includes citation, date, status, language of text, brief description of the treaty and a link to the full text.

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/entri/index.jsp

ENTRI:  Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators.

Web site offering full text and status of multilateral treaties that address environmental issues. Searches may be conducted by keyword or phrase. Users may also create customized statistical tables by country, treaty, and status.

URI Ref  JX171 .I535 1985

International Law:  The Essential Treaties and Other Relevant Documents.

Text of major treaties dealing with issues of international law since World War II. Arranged by topic then by date. There is a detailed table of contents but no index.

URI Current Periodical Room JX68 .I5   v.1(1962) -.

International Legal Materials.  Bimonthly. (Bound volumes in Serial Stacks).

Journal on international law includes the text of selected recent treaties. The "Other Documents Received" section lists treaties and treaty actions, where the text may be found and whether in print or electronic format.  Indexed in PAIS International and full text online through Lexis-Nexis Academic.

URI Ref  JX171 .G74

Greenville, J.A.S. The Major International Treaties, 1914-1973:  A History and Guide with Texts.

History and analysis of the major bilateral and multilateral treaties of this time period includes text of the treaties discussed. First chapter serves as a good introduction on the structure, role, and impact of treaties. Index by country and name of treaty.

http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html

Multilaterals Project.

Sponsored by the Fletcher School at Tufts University, this site offers full text of selected international treaties. Emphasis is on the second half of the twentieth century and the twenty-first century and on environmental treaties. Treaties may be searched by keyword or by topic. Links to sites on international law and treaty research are also included.

URI Ref  JX4005 .T72 1990

Treaties and Alliances of the World.  5th ed.

Abstracts of international and regional treaties signed since World War II. Arranged by issuing organization, then by date. First chapter discusses the role of treaties in the international system. Bibliography and index.

URI Serial JX170 .U35  v.1(1946)-v.1280(1982)

United Nations.  Treaty Series.  Irregular.

Text of treaties recorded with the Secretariat of the United Nations.  Arranged in chronological order. Text is in both English and French.   Index volumes at the beginning of the series include alphabetical and chronological indexes and a table of "General International Agreements" with signatories and dates. URI's set of this publication is incomplete and stops at 1982.

URI Ref  JX171 .R63 1983

Rohn, Peter H. World Treaty Index.  2nd ed. 5 vols.

Index to all treaties ratified since 1900. Entries arranged by date. Each entry includes complete citation, status, language of text, and signatories. Index by keyword in title and signatories. A statistical analysis of treaties is also included.

URI Ref  JX4408 .I57 1986

International and United States Documents on Oceans Laws and Policy. 5 vols.

Text of treaties and related documents on law of the sea. Coverage is from World War II with selected historically significant treaties. Two sections, "International" and "United States," are arranged by topic, then by date.

URI Ref  JX4411 .B725 1994

The International Law of the Sea. 2 vols.

This treatise includes the text of relevant treaties in Volume 2.  Arranged by topic. A detailed table of contents and tables of the treaties, signatories and status are included.

URI Ref  JX4408 .L43

New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Documents. 11 vols.

URI Ref  JX4408 .N48 1983

New Directions in the Law of the Sea: New Series. Looseleaf vols.

URI Ref  JX4411 .N49 1996

New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Global Developments. Looseleaf vols.

URI Ref  JX4408 .N483 1995

New Directions in the Law of the Sea: Regional and National Developments. Looseleaf vols.

Text of treaties, laws, and other relevant documents pertaining to the law of the sea. Arranged by topic. The Document series is the original series which was followed by the New Series. The New Series was split into a Global Development series and a Regional and National Developments series, as well as several series pertaining to a particular region such as Europe and Western Asia, North and South America, etc. An index by country and subject is at the end of the Documents series and at the beginning of the first volume of the New Series. All other series have detailed tables of contents only.

URI Ref  KZ3700 T36 2001

United Nations Convention on the Law of International Watercourses: A Framework for Sharing.

This treatise and commentary on this convention includes the text at the end of the volume.

Finding the text of recent treaties, both proposed and ratified, is often difficult as most of the official sources are several years in arrears. The sources listed below are useful in tracking down the text of a recent or proposed treaty. Treaties and International Agreements Online is the best source for finding recent U.S. treaties, but finding non-U.S. treaties is problematic.  Summaries of recent treaties can often be found on the Web site of the signatory's foreign affairs office or on the sponsoring international agency. Journal articles discussing a recent treaty can be located by searching the databases PAIS International and Lexis-Nexis Academic.

http://www.eisil.org/

EISIL: Electronic Information System for International Law.

Includes links to the full text of selected recent treaties in online format, when available (see above).

URI Serial JX68 .I5  v.1(1962)-

International Legal Materials.  Bimonthly.

This journal provides the full text of recent treaties (see above).

http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multilaterals.html

Multilaterals Project.

The Multilaterals Project includes recently ratified treaties (see above).

http://www.uri.edu/library/reference_databases/gov.html

Treaties and International Agreements Online.

This database includes the text of recent U.S. treaties as well as those awaiting ratification (see above).

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/index.html

URI Government Publications Ranges 51-52

United States Congressional Serial Set.  Senate Executive Reports and Senate Treaty Documents.

Since the President cannot ratify a treaty without the approval of the Senate, the text of the proposed treaty is often published in the Congressional Serial Set as a Senate Treaty Document of Senate Executive Report. The Treaty Document is the text that the President has submitted to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the first step in the process. The Executive Report is what is reported out of the committee. The online version of these publications is available through GPOAccess and may be searched by keyword or report/document number.

For assistance
If you need further assistance, please contact the Government Publications Office, University Library, (401) 874-2606. If the office is closed, please consult the Reference Desk, which may be reached at (401) 874-2653. You may also contact the government publications subject specialist, Deborah Mongeau, at (401) 874-4610 or dmongeau@uri.edu.

D. Mongeau, 8/05.