Reciprocity treaties are compacts requiring mu tual observance of certain duties or obligations. These involve such subjects as extradition, naturalization or copyright; for these are recip rocal on the subject named. Reciprocity trea ties are, however, ordinarily thought of as com mercial in character. They provide for the ad mission of certain products of each state into the ports of the other, at special rates, or duties, less perhaps than other countries pay, or without payment of any duty. Most treaties of arbitration are agreements between sovereign states tc submit their disputes to tribunals or to a board of arbitrators, whose final awards they bind themselves to abide by. General ar bitration treaties commenced to be entered into quite frequently from the middle of the 19th century, and have in recent years become very popular. The most important influence toward international arbitration of disputes was the calling of The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907. The first provided for a number of conventions and declarations, one especially — the for the pacific settlement of international disputes)) which was agreed to by the delegates of the 26 states represented, of which the United States was one. At the second conference 44 states were represented, and 13 conventions were agreed upon, the first of which dealt with the pacific settlement of international disputes, being a revision of that of 1899 with numerous additions.
Treaties of peace are similar in form to other treaties but the contracting parties do not enter into them on equal terms. They are nevertheless binding even though one of the parties has no real freedom of consent, and in fact may be compelled to sign a treaty under duress. Nearly every treaty of peace confers advantages on one side and imposes disadvan tages on the other. In one sense the peace nego tiation is a kind of extension, in another plane of conflict, of the military operations, in which the victor can threaten to resume hostilities, if his terms are not accepted. This kind of press ure is not exactly the same' as duress. The defeated party may not consider that the use of such pressure gives him any right to violate his agreement; for he chooses to sue for peace and accept some hardships, in order to avoid the much greater evil of subjugation or anni hilation. The victor might refuse to suspend hostilities until this event was consummated, with the result that there could be no treaty of peace. We may consider that the right of the victor to force the defeated party to accept his terms of peace is in the nature of a com pensation for not pressing the victory to the extreme limit possible. Thus a treaty of peace is a compromise of necessity, unlike most other treaties which are equal transactions.
Objects The constituent elements of treaties of peace vary considerably from other treaties because of the purposes and the condition of the belligerents. The fundamental object of a treaty of peace is first, to put an end to the war; secondly, to settle differences that produced it; thirdly, to settle whatever new differences may have arisen in the course of the hostilities. Two classes of articles may be distinguished, general and special. In the first class are those that relate directly to the cessation of the war and resumption of peace; for example, provisions for the evacuation of territory, restoration of property captured, lib eration of prisoners, the revival or abrogation of treaties concluded before the war. The special articles are those that relate to the essential points at issue — the terms on which peace is to be re-established, for example, the principal demands imposed by the victor on the vanquished, such as the cession of territory or the payment of indemnities, and the articles specifying the conditions and methods of carry ing the main articles into effect. Miscellaneous
articles deal with subjects peculiar to each indi vidual treaty, such as provisions for demobili zation, destruction of fortresses, rights of navi gation or trade, establishment of new states, etc. Secret articles are sometimes agreed upon which do not appear in the treaty made public. Such articles may modify or suspend certain clauses of the open treaty, or even make new provisions, which are kept secret in order per haps to avoid offending their states, or even to prevent opposition to the treaty by subjects of the parties who are signatories to the treaty. The date when the treaty is in full effect, espe cially treaties of peace, is not always easy to determine. The date when a treaty is signed does not necessarily show when the terms begin to operate. But the signing of the treaty marks the latest date for ceasing hostilities, unless otherwise provided for. The date when the treaty as a whole begins to operate, when peace is definitely and finally established, when the new status or position of the states begin, de pends upon the date when ratifications have been completed and exchanged by all the parties signatory to the treaty, unless some other date is named in the treaty. The exact date of the operation of certain clauses may be indefinite or indeterminate, because of the operation of other clauses. For example, military occupa tion of the enemy's territory might continue for years, until the payment of an indemnity was completed.
Special There are a great variety of international agreements and acts in volving matters of less importance than treaties that have been given special names. Those ap plied to the more special or limited subjects are protocols, notes, memoranda, declarations, conventions, congresses, cartels, etc. The word protocol is used in different ways, but com monly it means the preliminary document re cording the fundamental principles or the par ticular points on which an agreement has been reached, thus serving as the basis for the final instrument. Notes are résumés of diplomatic conversations. Memoranda define in detail cer tain points on which misunderstanding might arise. Declarations are signed statements of principles which states intend to observe in their relations to one another. Conventions and congresses are bodies convened to discuss important questions of interest to several states, or for the purpose of settling questions of controversy. The conclusions may result in a treaty, or may be expressed in a state ment of international policy, like the declara tion of Paris, 1856. Examples of congresses on this continent are those of Panama, 1826, and those called by the United States known as Pan-American Congresses, which have con vened at various times since 1889. Cartels are agreements entered into in time of war for the exchange of prisoners. They are the •official acts of generals or admirals with the express or presumed consent of their governments. Capitulations are agreements entered into in time of war by commanders of armies or navies for the surrender of forts, armies, etc. Such action is subject to the approval of the govern ment of the commander.