TREATY 



5868 



TREATY 



tiation of a treaty is a mutual recognition of 

 independence and sovereignty. A concordat, 

 an agreement to which the Pope is a party, is 

 not a treaty, nor is a convention between a 

 sovereign state and an individual. An agree- 

 ment between two kings on a private matter 

 is not a treaty. Unlike a private contract, a 

 treaty is not void because it is made under 

 duress, that is, if one of the parties uses force. 

 The cession of a province, after the enemy has 

 taken it by force of arms, is incontestable, ex- 

 cept again by force of arms. Also, unlike a 

 private contract, a treaty does not go into ef- 

 fect until it is ratified; for example, if the 

 United States ambassador negotiates a treaty 

 with Great Britain, the treaty does not become 

 effective until it has been approved by the 

 United States Senate and by the British king. 

 Kinds of Treaties. Treaties may be divided 

 into several classes, according to their pur- 

 poses. The following divisions are arbitrary, 

 and a treaty may frequently include clauses 

 under several classes: 



(1) Political, such as treaties of peace con- 

 cluding a war, treaties of defensive or offensive 

 alliance, agreements for cessions of territory, or 

 for arbitration of disputes. Agreements for the 

 exchange of prisoners, for truces, or the surrender 

 of an army are wrongly called treaties ; but an 

 agreement ending a war is rightly a treaty. In 

 this connection reference is often made to the 

 status quo,, a Latin phrase which literally means 

 the state in which. Thus, if a treaty is said to 

 leave things in status quo, the expression means 

 that things are left as they were or in the state 

 in which they had been. 



(2) Commercial, including agreements refer- 

 ring to customs tariffs, navigation, fisheries and 

 consular service. 



(3) Confederations, such as the Zollverein, the 

 Latin monetary union, and the International 

 Postal Union. 



(4) Agreements relating to the extradition of 

 criminals. 



(5) Civil justice, relating to the protection of 

 trade-marks, copyrights and patents in foreign 

 countries, and the rights of alien residents of a 

 country. 



Negotiations. In monarchies the treaty-mak- 

 ing power is usually vested in the Crown, 

 which may conduct negotiations through an 

 envoy specially appointed or through the ordi- 

 nary diplomatic representatives (see DIPLO- 

 MACY). In Germany, however, the approval 

 of Parliament is necessary if the treaty deals 

 with a subject included under its legislative 

 powers, and in some other monarchies the ap- 

 proval of the lawmaking department is neces- 

 sary if the treaty involves an expenditure of 

 money. 



In Great Britain neither house -ef Parliament 

 has any power over treaties. Canada has won 

 for itself the right to negotiate commercial 

 treaties, but in political matters it is bound by 

 the British treaties ; commercial agreements are 

 made by the Governor-General and his Privy 

 Council and must be ratified by the Dominion 

 Parliament. In republics the chief executive 

 usually possesses the power to make treaties. 

 In France the approval of both chambers of 

 the National Assembly is necessary if the 

 treaty involves the appropriation of money or 

 in any way affects commercial relations. , 



In the United States the Constitution (Art. 

 II, Sec. 2) grants to the President the "power, 

 by and with the advice and consent of the 

 Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds 

 of the Senators present concur." The separate 

 states are forbidden to enter into treaty agree- 

 ments with foreign countries, or even with 

 each other. The actual negotiations are in the 

 hands of the Department of State, -sometimes 

 through special envoys, but more often through 

 the ambassadors or ministers abroad. In prac- 

 tice the Senate has almost never been asked 

 for "advice;" its share in the making of trea- 

 ties is confined to the "consent," which is not 

 always forthcoming, in which case the treaty 

 fails. 



Occasionally when the administration has 

 been unable to command a two-thirds majority 

 in the Senate, it has been able to secure the 

 passage of a joint resolution, which requires 

 only a majority of one. Thus, in 1845, Texas 

 was admitted to the Union by joint resolution 

 because it was impossible to secure the neces- 

 sary majority in the Senate to ratify a treaty 

 of annexation. Such a resolution, though not 

 a treaty, in some cases may have the effect of 

 one. The House of Representatives must con- 

 sent to treaties which require legislation to put 

 them into operation; such would be a treaty 

 involving naturalization of immigrants, or com- 

 mercial reciprocity, or any appropriation of 

 government funds. 



Language Used. Until the eighteenth cen- 

 tury almost all treaties were written in Latin, 

 which was the official or diplomatic language 

 of Europe. Treaties even between states hav- 

 ing a common language were usually in that 

 language. In recent times French is almost al- 

 ways employed in making treaties, but it has 

 also become customary to prepare translations 

 in the languages of the treaty-making nations. 



Enforcement of Treaties. It was formerly 

 the practice of all nations to give hostages for 



