Once you have a citation, you can use it to retrieve the full text of the treaty from an official or an unofficial source. The following table lists all official sources for U.S. treaties and other international agreements, beginning with those that are currently published, as well as those that are no longer published (still relevant for older treaties). It also provides information on how to locate these official sources in print and online.
Nowadays, It is often possible to retrieve the full text of a treaty in HTML or PDF format without any reference to an official treaty source. Bear in mind, however, that the Bluebook still prefers official treaty sources for citation purposes. If you need to cite a U.S. treaty using Bluebook citation rules, you will need to identify a relevant official treaty source. See the Treaty Citations page of this guide for more information.
| Title and Description | Citation | Dates of Coverage | Print/Microform Holdings | Online Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senate Treaty Documents (1981-present) Senate Executive Documents (1789-1980) Treaties submitted to the Senate for ratification are first published as Senate Treaty Documents (formerly known as Senate Executive Documents). In addition to the full text of the treaty, Senate Treaty Documents often include letters of transmittal from the president and the secretary of state, along with other supporting or explanatory documentation. Senate Treaty Documents can be used to locate the full texts of recently ratified treaties before they are published in other official sources. For additional information, including how Senate Treaty Documents are numbered, see About Treaty Documents on Congress.gov. |
S. Treaty Doc. No. x |
1981-present |
|
Congress.gov 1975-present HeinOnline 1981-present ProQuest Congressional 1981-present |
| Treaties and Other International Acts Series (T.I.A.S.) Treaties and executive agreements that have entered into force since 1945 are published in this series. Until 2005, they were published in print as individual pamphlets. Beginning in 2006, T.I.A.S. has been published online, with each treaty or agreement available for download in PDF format. For additional information, visit this page of the State Department's website. |
T.I.A.S. No. xxxx | 1946-present | KZ235.32 .U55 (1982-1996) | |
| U.S. Treaties and Other International Agreements Series (U.S.T.) Treaties and agreements that entered into force between 1950 and 1984 were published in this series of printed bound volumes after initially being published as individual pamphlets in the T.I.A.S. series. Publication has ceased. |
vol. no. U.S.T. xxx | 1950-1984 | KZ235.3.U5 | HeinOnline |
| Treaty Series (T.S.) Treaties that entered into force from 1795-1945 are included in this series. Prior to 1929, the series also included most executive agreements. Merged with the Executive Agreement Series in 1946 to form T.I.A.S. |
T.S. No. xxx | 1795-1945 | KZ235.9 .A3 Micro | HeinOnline (1922-1945) |
| Executive Agreement Series (E.A.S.) Agreements that entered into force from 1929-1945 are included in this series. Prior to 1929, most (but not all) agreements were published in the Treaty Series. Merged with the Treaty Series in 1946 to form T.I.A.S. |
E.A.S. No. xxx | 1929-1945 | KZ236 1929 Micro | HeinOnline (1929-1945) |
| Statutes at Large (Stat.) Treaties that entered into force prior to 1950 are included in this chronological compilation of U.S. federal statutes. If you don't have a citation, see Volume 64 of the Statutes at Large at page B1107 (64 Stat. B1107) for a cumulative index of all treaties published in the Statutes at Large. |
vol. no. Stat. xxx | 1778-1949 | KF50 .UF |
Lexis and Westlaw both offer databases for retrieving the full texts of treaties and other international agreements to which the U.S. is a party. If you have a citation to an official source, such as T.I.A.S. or U.S.T., you can use that citation to retrieve the full text of the treaty on Lexis and Westlaw. (Each platform also assigns its own in-house citation numbers to recent treaties and agreements, but you won't find these Lexis and Westlaw treaty numbers in treaty indexes.)
In addition, you can use the U.S. treaty databases on Lexis and Westlaw to search for U.S. bilateral treaties by treaty partner (country name) and to search by keyword across the full texts or titles of multiple U.S. treaties
| Title and Description | Citation | Dates of Coverage | Print/Microform Holdings | Online Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Treaties on Lexis To retrieve a treaty text by citation to an official source, scroll down to the heading "Document Segments/Fields" and enter the citation number into the search by citation box. To search by party name (treaty partner) or to search by keyword across the full texts or titles of multiple treaties, scroll further down and enter your search terms in the appropriate search box. |
LEXIS xxxx | 1778-present | None | Lexis |
| U.S. Treaties on Westlaw To retrieve a treaty text by citation to an official source, enter the citation number in the basic search box. To search by country name (treaty partner), or to search by keyword across the full texts or titles of multiple treaties, open the Advanced Search template by clicking on the link to the right of the basic search box. |
year WL xxxx | 1778-present | None | Westlaw |