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Treaties and International Agreements: International/Multilateral Treaties

A guide to researching treaties and international agreements.

Identifying Current Treaties

United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS)

JX 170 U35

Under the UN Charter all member nations are required to register their treaties, both bilateral and multilateral, with the United Nations. In practice many nations do not submit their treaties, however, this is still the most complete source of treaties available. The UNTS has a Cumulative Index which began with the first hundred volumes and is now issued every fifty volumes.

International Legal Materials (ILM)

Publishes the text of foreign and international agreements and documents related to international relations.  Includes some US agreements.

Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements

Ref KZ 4968 .O84 2002

  • v. 1. A to F -- v. 2. G to M -- v. 3. N to S -- v. 4. T to Z and index.

Historical Treaties

Index to Multilateral Treaties, (1596-1963)

Ref JX 171 .H3

  • A chronological list of multi-party international agreements from 1596 - 1963. with citations.  No full text.

Consolidated Treaty Series (1648 - 1920) (CTS)

Ref JX 120 P35, Indexes JX 120 P352

  • Translated (where available) International and Multilateral treaties arranged chronologically from 1648 - 1920.

World Treaty Index (1920 - 1970)

Ref JX 171 R63

  • Index for bilateral treaties through 1970. 

League of Nations Treaty Series (1920 - 1946) (LNTS)

Main Library JX170 .L4

  • Predecessor to UNTS.  Index in each volume, cumulative indexes are included every 20-25 volumes.

Catalogue of Treaties, 1814 - 1918

Ref JX 171 .A4

  • Chronological index of treaties with subjects, countries, and dates.

International Treaties

This section will deal with International Treaties and Agreements, as well as Multilateral treaties (where the U.S. may or may not be a party).  For treaties between the United States and one party, please refer to the U.S. Treaties tab.