Bilateral Treaties in the United States

Finding Tools for Treaties

The following sources may provide access by country, subject, keyword, date, popular name or numerical cite (e.g., TIAS 600 or KAV 600).

Indexes

These sources will provide citations to treaties. Consult other sources in this
guide to access the treaty text.

Treaties in Force (TIF): Start with this index, unless you are certain your treaty is not in force. TIF is an annual publication which indexes bilateral and multilateral treaties currently in force as of January of the current year and gives citations to all major treaty publications. Bilateral treaties are located in the first part of the index. TIF provides access to bilateral treaties by country and, within country, by broad subject. The online versions allow for keyword searching as well. Internet: state.gov/s/l/treaties/.If you are unable to locate a treaty in Treaties in Force, then check the sources listed below.
United States Treaty Index: 1776-1990 Consolidation and Cumulative Supplement (UST Index): This indexes treaties, whether or not in force, by treaty number, chronology, country, and subject. It is updated by bound supplements and the Current Treaty Index (below).
Current Treaty Index: This is a cumulative supplement to the UST Index. It includes information about recent treaties and documents not listed in the UST index and its bound supplement.
Guide to United States Treaties in Force: This is a commercially published annual guide and is based on the treaties indexed in Treaties in Force. The purpose of this guide is to supplement retrieval approaches available in TIF. Part I provides a numerical list of treaties. Part II provides country and subject lists of bilateral and multilateral treaties.
Shepard’s Acts and Cases by Popular Names: Federal and State: If a treaty is known by its popular name, it may be cited to in this source.

Searchable full-text treaty sources

Westlaw and Lexis: You may do a keyword search in each of these platform’s
treaty collections.
United Nations Treaty Collection: This database contains the text of over 40,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties and subsequent acts deposited with the SecretaryGeneral. Searching is by title or keyword. Internet: untreaty.un.org/english/treaty.asp (Access Restricted)
HeinOnline Treaties and Agreements Library: This database contains more than 18,000 records of treaties and agreements to which the United States has been a party. Search this collection by using keyword or other options.
International Legal Materials (ILM): This is a bi-monthly publication of the American Association of International Law. The November issue contains the annual index, and there are also three decennial indexes (for the print edition). The index citations will lead you directly to the treaties contained within ILM. Do a keyword search in the online version; an excellent source for locating recent treaties.

Treaties prior to 1950

Try the following sources and those listed in the indexes above.

Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America,
1776-1949, by Charles E. Bevans: Check the index volume. This will lead you
directly to the treaty.
United States Statutes at Large (Stat.): This contains treaties with Native American Tribes from 1778 to 1873 and treaties with foreign nations from 1776 to 1950. Volume 7 covers tribal treaties from 1778 to 1842 and includes an index. Volume 8 covers treaties with foreign nations from 1776 to 1845. Treaties from subsequent years are published in the sessional volumes. Volume 64, Part 3, indexes all treaties appearing in volumes 1-64. Available in Internet: memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsl.html (volumes 1to 18, 1789 – 1875)

Proposed Treaties: Senate Treaty Documents

A Senate Treaty Document (formerly called a Senate Executive Document prior to the 97th Congress) is a congressional publication containing the material transmitted by the President to the Senate when the President asks the Senate to approve a treaty. It generally contains the text of the President’s communication supporting approval of the agreement and the text of the agreement itself. The following sources will help you locate Treaty Documents:

Congressional Index (CCH): The section entitled “Treaties (Index)” lists citations
to Senate Treaty Documents.
Congressional Information Service’s Annual Index (CIS): The subject heading entitled “treaties and conventions” will point you to citations in the abstracts volume, or if you know the year a treaty was signed or submitted to Congress, you may browse the S385 section (for Senate Foreign Relations Committee documents) of the CIS abstracts volumes for citations to full text documents. The online versions allow for greater flexibility in searching.
GPO Access: The Congressional Documents database provides full-text access to treaty documents from the 104th Congress (1995-1996) to present, and may be searched by keyword or document number. Internet: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/
Senate Treaty Documents appear in the Serial Set and also appear selectively in International Legal Materials, Department of State Bulletin, and United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN). Check the section about Print Sources below for more information about these materials.
United States Senate Executive Documents were published in a publication by the same name from the 86th to 95th Congress (see the Section about print sources below).

Unperfected Treaties:

Unperfected Treaties of the United States, 1776-1976: Check the index of this series to locate treaties to which the United States was a signatory, but which never went into force. The collection is arranged chronologically by date of signature. Each volume has an index for countries and subjects.
If you are unable to locate any information on a particular treaty, you may want to contact one of the following government offices: Assistant Legal Advisor for Treaties Affairs, United States Dept. of State or the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. They provide information on ratification process of specific treaties and on implementing legislation.

UPDATING TREATIES

The following sources may be used to update a treaty:

Treaties in Force: Check in the current year to see if your treaty is listed. Then, update
Treaties in Force with U.S. Department of State: Office of the Legal Adviser or the U.S.
Senate’s “Treaty Actions” (see below). Internet: state.gov/s/l/treaties/
Treaty Actions: Both the Department of State’s Office of the Legal Advisor and the United States Senate provide a list of treaty actions. Internet: state.gov/s/l/c3428.htm and senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/treaties.htm

Shepard’s United States Citations

Statute Edition, Volume 6:This contains citations to federal cases interpreting treaties, statutes affecting treaties and amendments by later treaties.

State court citations to treaties are in state citators. (Please note that Shepard’s Federal
Statute Citations ceased its coverage of Treaties in 1996 and the State Statute Citations
ceased coverage in the mid-1990s. Westlaw’s Keycite service does not analyze treaties)

United States Code Service

The unnumbered volume for “Uncodified Laws and Treaties” lists bilateral treaties by country, and provides annotations of federal and state court decisions discussing or interpreting them. It is far more limited in its coverage than Shepard’s.

PRINT SOURCES THAT INCLUDE THE TEXT OF BILATERAL TREATIES

Department of State Bulletin: This periodical selectively published both ratified treaties
and treaties pending ratification. (1939-1989)
Hein’s United States Treaties and Other International Agreements Current Service (KAV). It arranges texts by KAV number assigned for the temporary identification of treaties and agreements entered into by the United States after 1950 and not yet assigned a TIAS number and Temporary State Department Number. It includes the U.S. Department of Dispatch.
International Legal Materials (ILM). This is a good source for texts of new treaties of major significance, and it frequently includes the draft versions of important treaties. 1962 to present.
Serial Set: This contains Senate Treaty Documents (formerly called Senate Executive Documents) beginning with the 96th Congress (See infra United States Senate Executive Documents for earlier sessions).
Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols, and Agreements between the United States of America and Other Powers. . . (Malloy). 1776-1937.
Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS). These are temporary slip forms of treaties published by the State Department which are eventually printed in UST. Expect a five to six year lag time in publication.
Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949 (Bevans).
Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America. 1776-1863.
United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS). 1946 – .
United States Code and Congressional Administrative News (USCCAN). This publishes selected treaties after ratification, and selectively publishes Senate Treaty Documents.
United States Senate Executive Documents: This contains Senate Executive Documents from the 86th Congress to the 95th Congress (See supra Serial Set for later sessions).
United States Statutes at Large (Stat.). This is the official citation to U.S. treaties before 1950.
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST). This is the authoritative and permanent citation for United States treaties beginning January 1, 1950. Expect at least a 10 year delay in publication. 1950 – current.
Unperfected Treaties of the United States, 1776-1976.

SUBJECT COMPILATIONS OF TREATIES

Early American Indian Documents: Treaties & Laws, 1607-1789.
Extradition Laws and Treaties: United States.
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Volume 2 contains the treaties.
International Environment Reporter.
Tax Treaties (CCH).

U.S. TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS ON THE INTERNET

Compiled by Marci Hoffman, International & Foreign Law Librarian, Univerisity of California. This list is a section of Ms. Hoffman’s guide, Researching U.S.Treaties and Agreements, which is available on the Internet at llrx.com/features/ustreaty.htm.

Listed below are selected treaty collections available on the Internet. These sites focus on U.S.
treaties and agreements only.

Agreements Negotiated by the United States Trade Representative (ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Section_Index.html)
Avalon Project (Yale Law School). Good collection of older treaties. (yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm)
Bilateral Agreements On Extradition, Judicial/Legal Assistance, Control Of Narcotic Drugs, and Prisoner Transfer By Country (United Nations Crime And Justice Information Network). PDF document containing a list of agreements between the U.S. and other countries. (uncjin.org/Laws/extradit/usa.pdf)
DOSFAN Electronic Research Collection (U.S. Dept. of State, Foreign Affairs Network). This is the electronic archive for the State Department. Available at dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Electronic version of the treatise compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Available at: digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/
International Judicial Assistance (U.S. Dept. of State): travel.state.gov/law/info/judicial/judicial_702.html
Income Tax Treaties (IntlTaxLaw.Com): intltaxlaw.com/treaties/frontpage.htm
Investment Agreements in the Western Hemisphere: A Compendium (OAS, Foreign Trade Information System): sice.oas.org/bitse.asp
Trade and Investment Treaties, United States (OAS, Foreign Trade Information System). Available at sice.oas.org/ctyindex/USApg.asp
Private International Law Database (U.S. Dept. of State): state.gov/s/l/c3452.htm
TIARA (Treaties and Agreements Online) (available by subscription through Oceana Online—oceanalaw.com)
Trade and Related Agreements Database (U.S. Dept. of Commerce, International Trade Administration): tcc.mac.doc.gov
Treaties and International Law (provides access to the House of Representatives Internet Law Library, Treaties and International Law): lawguru.com/ilawlib/89.htm
Bureau of Arms Control, Treaties & Agreements (U.S. Dept. of State): state.gov/t/ac/trt/
U.S. Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (U.S. Dept. of State): state.gov/t/ac/
U.S. Income Tax Treaties (IRS): irs.gov/businesses/corporations/article/0,,id=96739,00.html

Bilateral Treaties