Alternat

Alternat, a usage amongst 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 preparing treaties and conventions, 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, Wheaton, Int. Law. Pt. Ii., c. 3, s. 4.