HeinOnline's Treaties and Agreements Library

Overview

The world's most-comprehensive online collection of image-based U.S. treaties and other international agreements can be found in HeinOnline's 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, and also offers a very powerful indexing tool that is unsurpassed by any other online U.S. treaty database.

In addition to including the actual page-images of all published and in-force treaties and agreements to which the United States has been a party, HeinOnline includes the actual page-images of thousands of unpublished treaties and agreements that have been identified through the records of the United States National Archives and Records Administration, United States Senate Treaty Documents, the Freedom of Information Act, and several other official U.S. government sources. Finally, treaties and agreements that are no longer in-force are also available, a feature that makes the HeinOnline treaty library vital to in-depth U.S. treaty researchers.

Thanks to the career-long work of Igor I. Kavass, a well-respected international law librarian, HeinOnline's treaty collection is further enhanced with substantial indexing that provides the ability to search for treaties in ways not available in any other online database. In addition to full-text searching, researchers can now search by country, parties, treaty description, State Department treaty number, last time listed in Treaties in Force (TIF), signature/in-force dates, TIF and/or Kavass subject, and related or amended treaties and agreements. Users can also refine their search to treaties currently in force treaties or not currently in force, or limit their searches to specific date ranges.

At the present time, the following treaty resources can be found in HeinOnline's Treaties and Agreements library collection:

Official Treaty Publications

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST)
Until 1950, U.S. treaties appeared regularly in Statutes at Large. Beginning in 1950, treaties and executive agreements have been published in a chronological series called United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (UST). UST includes the text of each treaty in the languages of the signatories. Although several volumes are typically published each year, at present UST is well-behind schedule in publishing the most-current treaty actions of the United States. HeinOnline includes all published volumes of the UST series.

Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS)
Prior to publication in UST, treaties and executive agreements are published in a consecutively numbered, slip-form series called Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS). This series, which began in 1945, contains the text in the languages of the signatories, and is considered the first authoritative publication of these documents. At the present time, there is also a considerable delay between the proclamation of a treaty or agreement and its publication in TIAS. HeinOnline includes all published TIAS agreements.

Unofficial Treaty Publications

KAV Agreements
Igor I. Kavass has spent much of his career identifying and obtaining treaties and agreements entered into by the United States since 1950 that have not yet been published in UST or TIAS, and assigning them a unique "KAV" number to aid in their identification. HeinOnline includes the actual texts of these KAV Agreements (in effect, becoming the first source for locating the text of unpublished U.S. treaties and other international agreements in one location), along with indexing provided by Kavass, to make HeinOnline the most complete collection of published and unpublished treaties and agreements in an image-based, fully searchable format. Most of the KAV treaties and agreements will eventually be published by the State Department in the Treaties and Other International Acts Series, but until they are, HeinOnline is your best resource for locating these important documents.

International Legal Materials (ILM)
ILM has been published bi-monthly since 1962 by the American Society of International Law, and contains the texts of major treaties, as well as some draft treaty proposals. Therefore, it often publishes the text of a treaty long before it is published in either of the official sources: UST and TIAS. HeinOnline includes coverage of ILM since inception.

Bevans
U.S. Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, compiled by Charles Bevans, is a 13-volume set is considered to be the most complete collection of treaties and other agreements entered into by the United States from 1776 to 1950. Volumes 1-4 of this collection contain the text of multilateral treaties in chronological order and by date of signature. Volumes 5-12 contain the text of bilateral treaties in alphabetical order by country. Volume 13 contains indexes by country and subject.

Malloy
Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols and Agreements Between the United States and Other Powers, compiled by W.M. Malloy, is a four-volume set that contains the full text of treaties from 1776 to 1937. Volume 4 of this collection has a cumulative index and a chronological list of treaties. Please note: Volumes 3 and 4 of this set had different editors and are sometimes referred to as Redmond and Trenwith, respectively.

Miller
Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, compiled by Hunter Miller, is an eight-volume set containing the full text of treaties from 1776 to 1863, arranged in chronological order by date of signature. Additional notes and citations by Miller add to the value of this set to the treaty researcher.

Treaty Guides and Indexes

Treaties in Force (TIF)
Treaties in Force is an indexing tool for starting research on in-force treaties and agreements. Published annually by the Department of State since 1955, TIF provides a brief summary of all treaties and other international agreements, both bilateral and multilateral, which are considered to be in force for the United States as of January of the respective year. Bilateral treaties are arranged by country and grouped into subjects under each country, while multilateral treaties are arranged by subject. HeinOnline includes all previously published volumes of TIF.

Guide to Treaties in Force
Edited by Igor I. Kavass, Guide to Treaties in Force is designed to be used in conjunction with Treaties in Force (TIF) and provides access points well beyond those found in Treaties in Force. Professor Kavass' career-long indexing of treaties and agreements greatly expands upon the rather simplistic approach of the U.S. Department of State's indexing in Treaties in Force. The Guide contains three parts and a supplement: Part 1 is a numerical list of bilateral and multilateral treaties and agreements listed in TIF; Part 2 provides expanded subject lists of the treaties and agreements; and Part 3 provides a chronological index to U.S. multilateral treaties and agreements in force. Finally, the supplement cumulates and indexes the information about treaty developments that have occurred since the cut-off date of the latest edition of TIF.


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