Treaties

What is treaties? If we look into the provisional draft of the International Law Commission, a "treaty" is defined as :
"any international agreement in written form, whether embodied in a single instrument or in 2 or more related instrument & whatever its particular designation (treaty, convention, protocol, covenant, charter, statute, act, declaration, concordat, exchange of notes, agreed minute, memorandum of agreement, modus vivendi or any other appellation), conclude between 2 or more states or other subjects of international law & governed by international law".

Besides,  Article 2 (1)(a) of Vienna Convention defines a treaty as " an international agreement concluded between 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".

Elements of Treaties.

(1) Form
The manner in which treaties are negotiated and brought into force is governed by the intention and consent of the parties. There's no specific requirements of form, for instance, an agreement may be recorded in an exchange of letters or the minutes of the conference.The Vienna Convention applies only to agreements in written form but Article 3 stipulates that this limitation is without prejudice to the legal force of agreements 'not in written form'
(2) Full powers & signature
A Full powers involves an authority to negotiate & to sign & seal a treaty. If the negotiation is successful, the parties may adopt & authenticate the agreements. From the authentication comes the signature. Signature is subject to ratification, acceptance, or approval but signature does not established consent to be bound. However, signature qualifies the signatory state to proceed to ratification, acceptance or approval & creates an obligation of good faith to refrain from acts calculated frustrated the objects of the treaty.
(3) Ratification
Ratification involves two distinct procedural acts which are ratification in constitutional sense  & the second is the international procedure which brings a treaty into force by a formal exchange or eposit of instrument of ratification.Ratification needed the consent to be bound. In the Article 14 of the Vienna Convention, its provided that the parties must have intention to be bound.
(4) Accession, acceptance & approval
Accession, acceptance & approval occurs when a state which did not sign a treaty, already signed by other states, formally accepts its provisions. Accession may occur before or after the treaty has entered into force. The conditions under which accession may occur & the procedure involved depend on the provisions of the treaty. Recent practice has introduced the terms 'acceptance' & 'approval' to describe the substance of accession.
(5) Expression of consent to be bound.
Other ways of consent is an expression to be bound such as an exchange of instruments constituting a treaty. Signature, ratification, acceptance & approval are not the only means by which consent to be bound may be expressed.

In conclusion, a ratification of the treaties will bound the states that give their consent & intention to be bound.