When the Western world was composed primarily of monarchies rather than
representative democracies, signature was more commonly viewed as consent to be
bound, since monarchs (and thus their agents, or „plenipotentiaries‟) had the authority to
unilaterally bind their States to treaties.3
The central legal issue under that regime was
one of agency—that is, whether the monarch‟s purported representative actually had the
authority to make the commitment. The conferral of „full powers‟ on an agent would
define the scope of the agent‟s authority to bind the State in treaty negotiations.
„Ratification,‟ under that regime, was a confirmation by the monarch that the agent had
acted with authority.