the.com/ratification
Where a signature becomes a promise the whole country has to keep.
means The formal act of officially approving or confirming something — like a treaty, law, or amendment — so it becomes binding.
from Traces back to Latin 'ratus' (fixed, settled, approved — the past participle of 'reri,' to reckon or think) combined with 'facere' (to make). So to ratify is literally 'to make settled' — to take something provisional and reckon it final. The word moved through medieval Latin 'ratificare' into French and then English, originally doing legal and ecclesiastical work: popes ratified decisions, kings ratified charters, long before parliaments ratified constitutions.
- treaty threshold
- US Senate needs two-thirds, not a majority
- constitution math
- took only 9 of 13 states to ratify
- etymology
- from Latin ratus, meaning calculated or fixed
- equal rights amendment
- passed Congress 1972, still unratified by enough states