Legal Research

What is a Treaty?

• An agreement between states (inter-state) or between states and international organizations, intended to be governed by international law.
• May also be known as an agreement, covenant, protocol, convention, pact, statute, or convention.
• Can address a wide range of topics. 
• Treaties involving varying numbers of parties are referred to in varying ways:
  • Bilateral: negotiated between two states;
  • Plurilateral: negotiated between a limited number of states, but more than two; and
  • Multilateral: negotiated by several states.
• According to Article 2(1)(a) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969, " 'treaty' means an international agreement concluded between two or more States in written form and governed by international law, whether embodied in a single instrument or in two or more related instruments and whatever its particular designation".

Note: Increasingly in Canada, treaties are referred to as international treaties to distinguish them from treaties with Indigenous peoples.

For More Information: