Oxford LibGuides: United States: legal resources: Treaties

US treaties and practice

Text of treaties to which US is party
US treaty practice

Online resource requiring Oxford SSO.

HeinOnline
Remote access requires Oxford SSO
Includes US Treaties and International Agreements Library eg if you have citation to Bevans (Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America 1776-1949), Malloy (Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols and Agreements between the US and Other Powers, 1776-1937) or other US treaty collections
Alternative names: Hein Online ; HOL

Oxford users have access to multiple collections through HeinOnline, including:
- Law Journal Library includes over 500 U.S., U.K., Australian and International Law Journals. For most journals the date coverage starts very early (in many cases at the first issue). However the most recent editions (within the last calendar year) are sometime unavailable due to licensing restrictions. HeinOnline makes these journals available on a rolling yearly basis.
- U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library includes all U.S. treaties and agreements including those in force, expired or yet to be published.
- U.S. Supreme Court Library includes all U.S. Supreme Court opinions as published in the U.S. Reports
- Federal Register Library: Comprehensive coverage of the official journal of the U.S. federal government dating from inception (1936).
- Legal Classics: Full text of over 100 legal texts including Blackstone's Commentaries (1803), Cardozo's Growth of the Law (1924), and Story's first edition of Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1833).
- Provincial Statutes of Canada includes Provincial Statutes for ten of the Canadian provinces. Contains public and private acts passed by Canadian provincial governments. Current, revised, and historical content is now available for Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Historical and revised content only is available for Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.
- Selden Society Publications and the History of Early English Law: Early English manuscripts, yearbooks and more illustrating English and American legal history. Also includes influential digests, abridgments, and modern encyclopedias that formed the foundation of English law.
All content consists of scanned images of the original printed editions. This allows you to view the content as it originally appeared in print complete with page numbers and pictures.
To save or print articles from HeinOnline choose PRINT OPTIONS followed by DOWNLOAD AS PDF. You will then be able to print out and/or save articles using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Official US websites providing texts of treaties: these are available to all with access to the internet

US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations : Treaty activities
Official website. Possibly the best site to find the most recent developments
Treaties in Force: TIF (annual)
Official website Treaties in Force is published annually by the Department of State to provide information on treaties and other international agreements to which the United States has become a party and which are carried on the records of the Department of State as of January 1st in its most recent publication year.

The electronic edition of Treaties in force may be updated periodically throughout the year on the Treaty Affairs webpage. It is presented in Adobe Acrobat PDF, which allows text searches and printing of the entire document or selections from it
Treaties and Other International Agreements (TIAS) USA
Official website. Text of treaties from 1994 to date

more... less...

Pursuant to 1 U.S.C. 112a(a), the Secretary of State is responsible for compiling, editing, indexing, and publishing a compilation entitled “United States Treaties and Other International Agreements,” which contains all international agreements to which the United States has become a party during each calendar year. This compilation “shall be legal evidence of the treaties, international agreements other than treaties, and proclamations by the President of such treaties and agreements, therein contained, in all the courts of the United States, the several States, and the Territories and insular possessions of the United States.” 1 U.S.C. 112a(a).
Bevans' U.S. Treaties (1776-1949)
Free resource. Made available on the Library of Congress Website
Treaties for Which the United States is Depositary
Part of official US Treaty Office website. "The US is depositary for over 200 multilateral treaties – including, for example, the Charter of the United Nations, The Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the North Atlantic Treaty." Links to status and depository actions.

For basis of US Treaty-making practice see Article II, Section 2, Clause 2, of the United States Constitution the President of the United States "shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur [.]"

The United States may also enter into international agreements by way of "Executive Agreements" - either "Presidential" or "Congressional" - by-passing the Senate.

Office of Treaty Affairs (USA): Treaty Procedures
Official website

Chapter 20 of the book below is on US treaty practice

National treaty law and practice by eds Hollis, Blakeslee, Ederington
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link.

ISBN: 900414417X

Publication Date: 2005

Print copy is available at Internat 670 L529a, Level 3

An Empirical Look at U.S. Treaty Practice: Some Preliminary Conclusions [Agora: The End of Treaties?]
Open Access. Article by Cindy Galway Buys
AJIL Unbound, May 7, 2014,
Digest of United States practice in international law
Part of the US Department of State official website. The Office of the Legal Adviser publishes the annual Digest to provide the public with a historical record of the views and practice of the Government of the United States in public and private international law. Online availability from 1989/90 onwards.

The Death of Treaty Supremacy by David L. Sloss
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link

ISBN: 9780199364022

Publication Date: 2016

Print copy at KM33.U4.SLO 2016 if preferred
Supreme Law of the Land? : debating the contemporary effects of treaties within the United States legal system by Paul R. Dubinsky (Editor); Gregory H. Fox (Editor); Brad R. Roth (Editor)
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this via title link

ISBN: 9781107066601

Publication Date: 2017

Print copy is at KL22.FOX 2017

Benchbook on International Law (USA)
Open access 2014 publication offering "a hands-on introduction to international law as it arises in courts of the United States." Authors: Members of the American Society of International Law Editor-in-Chief: Diane Marie Amann.

Related Bodleian Guides

Treaties & treaty law
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Jun 24, 2025 561 views this year
International law: from 1945 to date
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Jun 24, 2025 219 views this year
Politics and International Relations
by Jo Gardner Last Updated May 22, 2025 1583 views this year