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been of a technical and administrative nature, while agreements between Heads of States have dealt with matters of exceptional importance, such as the conclusion of political alliances or the cession of territory. 1 It will be noted, however, that the Charter of the United Nations and the Treaties of Peace with Italy, Hungary, Roumania, Bulgaria, and Finland are not in the Heads of State form, which may be taken as indication that this form of agreement is losing its significance. 1. Heads of State Agreements (i) Negotiation and signature In the case of Heads of States agreements His Majesty is the high contracting party on behalf of New Zealand. Full Powers are prepared and, since New Zealand does not yet possess a separate Great Seal, sealed in the United Kingdom with the Great Seal of the Realm. (To use this Seal it is necessary for a Royal Warrant signed by His Majesty and counter-signed by the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations to be delivered to the Lord Chancellor authorizing him to affix the Great Seal of the Realm, of which he has custody, to the document. The Royal Warrant authorizing the affixing of the Great Seal is so worded as to indicate that His Majesty is acting on the advice of his Ministers in the particular Dominion concerned. The intervention of United Kingdom Ministers is purely formal.) The Full Powers are then delivered to the plenipotentiary charged with negotiating the treaty. (ii) Ratification Similar constitutional procedure is followed by the New Zealand Government in the preparation and sealing of Instruments of Ratification under Heads of States treaties. The last occasion on which New Zealand was included in a single Instrument of Ratification under the signature of His Majesty as high contracting party on behalf of the British Empire was the Treaty of Peace with Turkey signed at Lausanne in 1923. Since that date the practice has been to deposit a separate ratification on behalf of New Zealand.

1 The various names given to treaties {e.g., treaty, agreement, convention, accord, exchange of notes, modus vivendi, protocol, &c), have little significance. All, once concluded, have equal weight.