AGLC4 Rule 8.2: Treaties: Parties’ Names

Do not list the parties to a multilateral treaty that has more than three signatories. For a bilateral or trilateral treaty, add the parties after the title only when the title does not already name them. Use the conventional short name of each state unless the full name is needed to avoid confusion with another state.

AGLC4 page 134

Formatting

  • Parties are listed only for bilateral or trilateral treaties whose title does not name them, and never for multilateral treaties with more than three signatories.
  • Parties are roman, not italic, and sit between the italic title and the signature phrase.
  • A comma separates the title from the list of parties and another comma follows the last party.
  • Party names are joined by unspaced en dashes, with no spaces on either side.
  • Each state is named in its conventional short form (for example Venezuela rather than its formal name), unless the full form is needed to tell two states apart.
  • An international organisation that is a party is treated the same way: if the title names it, nothing is added.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 134
  1. 2
    Convention Relating to the Non-Fortification and Neutralisation of the Aaland Islands, opened for signature 20 October 1921, 9 LNTS 211 (entered into force 6 April 1922). [Not: … Aaland Islands, Germany– Denmark–Estonia–Finland–France etc …]
  2. 3
    Agreement on Cultural and Educative Integration between the Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Peru, signed 12 January 1996, 2408 UNTS 125 (entered into force 13 March 1997) art 4. [Not: … between the Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Peru, Venezuela–Peru, signed …]
  3. 4
    International Agreement on the Scheldt, Belgium–France–Netherlands, signed 3 December 2002, 2351 UNTS 13 (entered into force 1 December 2005) art 3(1)(a).
  4. 5
    Financing Agreement (Additional Financing for Household Energy and Universal Access Project) between the Republic of Mali and the International Development Association, signed 3 October 2008, 2563 UNTS 25 (entered into force 5 January 2009).

Not

Quoted from the Guide, page 134
  • [Not: … Aaland Islands, Germany–Denmark–Estonia–Finland–France etc …]
    a multilateral treaty with many signatories never has its parties listed
  • [Not: … between the Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Peru, Venezuela–Peru, signed …]
    the title already names the parties, so they are not repeated

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 134
  • ‘Venezuela’
  • ‘Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’
  • ‘Democratic Republic of the Congo’
  • ‘Republic of the Congo’

See also

Check your footnotes against these rules

Paste your paper into the free AGLC4 checker and each footnote is graded against the Guide, with the rule it breaks. To write a citation from scratch, use the AGLC4 citation generator.

AGLC4 citation checker AGLC4 citation generator

Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.