Treaty

tre'ty, an agreement between nations. A treaty may be a contract to do, or a contract to leave undone, or both. In absolute monarchies the power of making treaties is vested in the sovereign. In constitutional monarchies treaty-making is a function of a cabinet or minister subject, in a varying degree, to parliamentary ratification. In the United States the president is authorized to make treaties, which, however, must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate in order to become binding on the nation. The various agreements made by the government with Indian nations have been about 350. These so-called Indian treaties have involved usually the cession of lands by the Indians and the payment of lump sums or annuities by the United States. The first foreign treaty entered into by the United States after the treaty of peace with Great Britain was made with Algiers, September 5, 1795. It provided for peace and friendship between the two nations, in consideration of which the United States agreed to pay the bey an annual sum. It was superseded by a similar treaty twenty years later, in which payment was abolished. Three or four hundred treaties have been completed since. They relate to such subjects as boundaries, the privileges of trading, and the return of fugitive criminals. Arrangements of the latter sort, known as extradition treaties, have been entered into with all the civilized nations of the world. We give up criminals to other nations and they permit us to arrest and take home ours. A proper proof is, of course, requisite in each case. Among the offenses covered by these treaties are murder, kidnaping, bigamy, arson, rape, forgery, counterfeiting, embezzlement, larceny, burglary, highway robbery, theft of horses, fraud, receiving stolen goods, perjury, slave trading, etc. Our treaties for the return of criminals vary greatly with different countries. Mexico and Brazil, for instance, are the only countries with which we have extradition treaties covering bribery. See Hague Tribunal; Arbitration; Extradition