self executing treaty

A self-executing treaty is a treaty that becomes judicially enforceable upon ratification. As opposed to a non-self executing treaty, which becomes judicially enforceable through the implementation of legislation.  A treaty could be identified as either self executing or non-self executing by looking to various indicators, including statements that are made by Congress or the Executive regarding the treaty, indeterminate language of the treaty, or if the treaty deals with a matter within the exclusive law-making power of Congress, indicating that Congress must create implementing legislation.