Researching Treaties and International Agreements

Introduction Research Guides General Sources for Treaties U.S. Treaties and Agreements Indexes and Finding Tools Full-text Sources Status, Updating and Ratification Background Information U.S. Treaties and Agreements on the Web Treaties Where the U.S. is Not a Party, and Multilateral Treaties Bilateral Treaties Multilateral Treaties Collections on the Web Treaties By Popular Name Treaty Citations Print entire guide

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Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America (H. Miller ed., Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O.,1931) [KJ186.U58t M648 1931]. Contains text of treaties from 1776-1863.

Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols, and Agreements Between the U.S.A. and Other Powers (Malloy ed., v.1-2; Redmond & Trenwith eds., v.3-4, Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1910 -) [KJ186.U58t SD357 1910]. Contains text of treaties from 1776-1937; v.4 has cumulative index and chronological list of treaties.

Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States, 1776- 1949 (Bevans, ed., Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1968-1976) [KJ186.U58t B571]. Supersedes Miller and Malloy; v.1-4 have the text of multilateral treaties and agreements in chronological order by date of signature; v.5-12 includes bilateral treaties and agreements in alphabetical order by country; v.13 has a cumulative country and subject index. Covers 1908-September 1929.  Commonly referred to as Bevans.

Treaty Series (cited to as TS) (October 1929-1945) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O, 1908-1946) [Main Library JX235.9 .A3].  Provides the text of treaties only. Merged with Executive Agreement Series to form Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS).

Executive Agreement Series (cited to as EAS) (October 1929-1945) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O, 1929-1946) [Main Library JX235.9 .A2]. Contains international executive agreements only.  Merged with Treaty Series.

Statutes at Large (cited to as Stat.) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O, 1789-) [Reading Room KF50]. From 1776-1950, treaties and international agreements were published in Statutes at Large.  Volume 8 contains all treaties between the U.S. and other countries from 1778-1845.  Volume 64, part 3 contains a cumulative list of all treaties and agreements included in volumes 1-64.  The first 18 volumes of Statutes at Large are available on the web on the Library of Congress, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation.

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (cited to as U.S.T.) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O , 1950-) [North Reading Room KJ186 .U58t UST].  This is the cumulative collection of TIAS (slip copies of treaties) and is the current official collection of U.S. treaties and agreements.  There is a considerable lag time with this publication, about 12 years.

Treaties and Other International Acts Series (cited to as TIAS) (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1946-) [North Reading Room KJ186 .U585].  This series is the first official publication of new treaties and agreements -- slip treaty -- and is later bound in U.S.T.  There is a lag time of about 7 years.

Hein's United States Treaties and Other International Agreements Current Service [microfiche] (Buffalo, NY: W.S. Hein, 1990-) [Micro Room KJ186 .U588]. Use the United States Treaty Index and the Current Treaty Index to locate the correct microfiche. This set is a good source for recent treaties.

Consolidated Treaties and International Agreements (cited to as CTIA) (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1990-) [KJ186 .U573]. This set is a continuation of the 231 volume set Consolidated Treaty Series (Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications, 1969-1986) [KJ173 .P264 CTS] which covers 1648-1918. The continuation set covers from January 1990 to present (about a 6 month lag).  Available in electronic format as part of Treaties and International Agreements Online (see next).

Treaties and International Agreements Online (Oceana Publications, [1999-]). Subscription database service from Oceana Publications (Boalt only).  This database contains U.S. treaties and international agreements in force since 1783. It contains specific fielded data and the full text of over 10,000 bi-lateral and multilateral treaties signed by the United States.

CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress [and microfiche] (Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service, 1970-) [Indexes available in Reading Room KF49.C62; publications available in Micro Room Case G, Drawer 1-]. Treaties appearing in the Senate Treaty Document Series are indexed by CIS. Access is through subject matter of the treaty, title of the treaty, as well as through the heading "Treaties and agreements," and the treaty document number (assigned by the Senate). The index gives a cite to the CIS microfiche set where the full text of the treaty is located. See also CIS Senate Executive Documents and Reports [and microfiche] (Bethesda, MD: Congressional Information Service, 1987) [Main Library, GovSocSci J62 .C57 1987], a microfiche collection of treaty documents and reports from 1817-1969. There is a two-volume index for accessing the relevant microfiche numbers. See also Congressional Information (CIS), available from LEXIS-Nexis Academic Service (UCB only).

International Legal Materials (cited to as I.L.M.) (Washington, DC: American Society of International Law, 1962-) [KJ5 .I574]. Selected treaties appear in full-text, often the first and only place they are published until the treaties come out officially. ILM is also available on LEXIS (INTLAW; ILM) from 1975 on and WESTLAW (ILM) from 1980 to present.

Senate Treaty Documents (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., 1981-) [Current issues in BSR]. Senate, House & Treaty Documents are available on the Web from 104th Congress on.  These documents include the text of treaties submitted by the executive branch to the Senate for its advice and consent, together with supporting documentation.  Senate Treaty Documents are also available through the Serial Set, Congressional Information (UCB only), CIS publications, LEXIS (US Treaties), and WESTLAW (USTREATIES).  Prior to 1979, these documents were called Senate Executive Documents.

Senate Executive Reports (Washington, DC: U.S.G.P.O., n.d.) [Current issues in the BSR]. Senate Executive Reports are available on the Web from 104th Congress on.  These reports are issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and include the Committee’s analysis and recommendations concerning proposed treaties. They also include the text of proposed treaties, together with any conditions (i.e., amendments or reservations) recommended by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  These documents are also available in the Serial Set, CIS Senate to US Senate Documents and Reports and other CIS publications, such as Congressional Information (UCB only).

Both LEXIS and WESTLAW contain U.S. treaties and agreements. Treaties can be located in the USTREATIES file on WESTLAW and in US Treaties on LEXIS. Both of these systems have many topical agreements and treaties: major trade agreements (GATT and NAFTA), International Economic Law Documents, and International Environmental Law Documents, and tax treaties.

Unperfected Treaties of the United States of America, 1776-1976 (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publications, 1976-1994) [KF4651 .U56 1976].  Six volume set includes treaties and agreements concluded by the U.S. which, for whatever reason, never entered into force between 1776 and 1976.

There are many collections of treaties and agreements, such as Tax Treaties and Extradition Laws and Treaties.  Some of these sets are regularly updated in looseleaf format or available by subscription on the Web.

There are many treaties available on the Web.  See below for some of the major collections.