Treaty

international law. A treaty is a compact made between two or more independent nations with a view to the public welfare; they are for a perpetuity or for a considerable time. Those matters which are accomplished by a single act, and are at once perfected m their exccution are called agreements, conventions and pactions. On the part of the United States, treaties are made by the president by and with the consent of the senate, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur. Const. art.

2,8. 2, n. 2.

No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance or confederation, Const. art.

1, s. 10,n.

1; nor shall any state, without the consent of congress, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with, a foreign power. Ib. art.

1, s. 10, n. 2; 3 Story on the Const. § 1395.

A treaty is declared to be the supreme law of the land, and is therefore obligatory on courts, 1 Cranch, R. 103, whenever it operates of itself without the aid of a legislative provision; but when the terms of the stipulation import. a contract, and either of the parties engages to perform a particular act, the treaty addresses itself to the political, not the Judicial department, and the legislature must execute the contract before it can become a rule of the court.

2 Pet. S. C. Rep. 314.

Vide Story on the Const. Index, h. t.; Serg. Const. Law, Index, h. t.; 4 Hall’s Law Journ. 461; 6 Wheat. 161; 3 Dall. 199; 1 Kent, Com. treaty of peace is an agreement or contract made by belligerent powers, in which they agree to lay dowa their arms, and by which they stipulate the conditions of peace, and regulate the manner in which it 1s to be restored and supported.

Vatt. Lib. 4,c.2,§ 9.