Treaty \Trea"ty\, n.; pl. Treaties. [OE. tretee, F. trait['e],
   LL. tractatus; cf. L. tractatus a handling, treatment,
   consultation, tractate. See Treat, and cf. Tractate.]
   1. The act of treating for the adjustment of differences, as
      for forming an agreement; negotiation. "By sly and wise
      treaty." --Chaucer.
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            He cast by treaty and by trains
            Her to persuade.                      --Spenser.
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   2. An agreement so made; specifically, an agreement, league,
      or contract between two or more nations or sovereigns,
      formally signed by commissioners properly authorized, and
      solemnly ratified by the several sovereigns, or the
      supreme power of each state; an agreement between two or
      more independent states; as, a treaty of peace; a treaty
      of alliance.
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   3. A proposal tending to an agreement. [Obs.] --Shak.
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   4. A treatise; a tract. [Obs.] --Sir T. Browne.
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	treaty
     n : a written agreement between two states or sovereigns [syn: pact,
          accord]

	

	28 Moby Thesaurus words for "treaty":
   NATO, SEATO, accord, agreement, alliance, arrangement, bargain,
   capitulation, cartel, charter, compact, concord, concordat,
   contract, convention, covenant, deal, entente, entente cordiale,
   international agreement, league, mutual-defense treaty,
   nonaggression pact, pact, paction, reconciliation, settlement,
   understanding

	

	TREATY, international law. A treaty is a compact made between two or more 
independent nations with a view to the public welfare treaties are for a 
perpetuity, or for a considerable time. Those matters which are accomplished 
by a single act, and are at once perfected in their execution, are called 
agreements, conventions and pactions. 
     2. 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. article 2, s. 2, n. 2. 
     3. 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. Id. art. 1, see. 10, n. 2; 3 Story on the Const. Sec. 1395. 
     4. A treaty is declared to be the supreme law of the land, and is 
therefore obligatory on courts; 1 Cranch, R. 103; 1 Wash. C. C. R. 322 1 
Paine, 55; 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. 814. Vide Story on the Constitut. Index, h.t.; 
Serg. Constit. Law, Index, h.t.; 4 Hall's Law Journal, 461; 6 Wheat. 161: 3 
Dall. 199; 1 Kent, Comm. 165, 284. 
     5. Treaties are divided into personal and real. The personal relate 
exclusively to the persons of the contracting parties, such as family 
alliances, and treaties guarantying the throne to a particular sovereign and 
his family. As they relate to the persons they expire of course on the death 
of the sovereign or the extinction of his family. Real treaties relate 
solely to the subject-matters of the convention, independently of the 
persons of the contracting parties, and continue to bind the state, although 
there may be changes in its constitution, or in the persons of its rulers. 
Vattel, Law of Nat. b. 2, c. 12, 183-197.