WHAT IS A TREATY?
Treaty is a formal agreement, contract, or a written instrument that establishes an obligation between more than two international law subjects. Treaty is a generically used term that describes various instruments that include agreements, conventions, arrangements, covenants, protocols, acts, and charters.
A treaty is binding, and that is the distinguishing feature of a compact. Treaties are executed faithfully and in keeping with the principle of pacta sunt servanda, which means “agreements must be kept”, and this arguably happens to be the oldest principle of international law. Without this principle, the treaties are neither enforceable nor binding. The treaty provided by the governments with “absolute power” to conclude the treaty within the instructions is negotiated. The signature of a country is sufficient to manifest the intention to be bound by the treaty.
WHAT ARE MULTILATERAL TREATIES?
In multilateral or general treaties signature of a country is subject to the formal ratification by the government. The instrument does not become binding until the ratifications are exchanged. Multilateral treaties bind the states that go into effect after a specified number of ratifications are attained. The states become parties to the treaty through accession after the time to sign the treaty has passed.
CLASSIFICATION OF TREATIES
The treaties are classified according to their object, as follows:
(1) Political Treaties that include alliances, peace treaties, disarmament treaties, and territorial cessions;
(2) Commercial Treaties that include consular, tariff, navigation, and fishery agreements;
(3) Constitutional and Administrative Treaties, including the conventions that establish and regulate international organizations, unions, and specialized agencies;
(4) Treaties that are related to criminal justice, like treaties that define international crimes and provide for extradition;
(5) Treaties related to civil justice, like the conventions for human rights protection, for copyrights and trademarks, and the foreign court’s execution of the judgments;
(6) Treaties that codify international law like the procedures for s peaceful settlement of international disputes, rules for the war’s conduct, and defining states' duties and rights.
CONCLUSION
It is difficult to assign a treaty to any one of the classes, and the legal value of these distinctions is minimal. Treaties are terminated by the consent of the parties or through a provision. In case of a material breach, the innocent party of a bilateral treaty invokes the treaty's breach as a ground for suspending its operation. Multilateral treaties are suspended by unanimous agreement and consent of all the parties. A party is especially affected by the breach of a multilateral treaty that can suspend the agreement as it applies to relations between the defaulting state and itself. Treaty is a formal contract that establishes an obligation between the subjects of international law.
