alterna

1 definition found

alterna - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  ALTERNAT. The name of a usage among diplomatists by which the rank and
  places of different powers, who have the same rights and pretensions to
  precedence, are changed from time to time, either in a certain regular
  order, or one determined by lot. In drawing up treaties and conventions, for
  example, it is the usage of certain powers to alternate, both in the
  preamble and the signatures, so that each power occupies, in the copy
  intended to be delivered to it, the first place. Wheat. Intern. Law, pt. 2,
  c. 3, Sec. 4..