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