The act ofcession is the assignment ofproperty to another entity. Ininternational law it commonly refers toland transferred bytreaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdiction by a board in favor of another agency."^[1] In contrast withannexation, where property is forcibly seized, cession is voluntary or at least apparently so.

In 1790, the U.S. states ofMaryland andVirginia both ceded land to create theDistrict of Columbia, as specified in theU.S. Constitution of the previous year. The Virginia portion wasgiven back in 1847, a process known as "retrocession".

Following theFirst Opium War (1839–1842) andSecond Opium War (1856–1860),Hong Kong (Treaty of Nanking) andKowloon (Convention of Peking) were ceded by theQing dynasty government ofChina to theUnited Kingdom; and following defeat in theFirst Sino-Japanese War,Taiwan was ceded to theEmpire of Japan in 1895.

Territory can also be ceded for payment, such as in theLouisiana Purchase andAlaska Purchase.

This is a yielding up, or release.^[2]France cededLouisiana to theUnited States by the treaty of Paris, of April 30, 1803, following theLouisiana Purchase. Spain made a cession ofEast andWest Florida by the treaty of February 22, 1819. Cessions have been severally made of a part of their territory by New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.

Under thecivil law system, cession is the equivalent ofassignment, and therefore, is an act by which a personal claim is transferred from the assignor (thecedent) to the assignee (thecessionary). Whereasreal rights are transferred by delivery,personal rights are transferred by cession. Once the obligation of the debtor is transferred, the cessionary is entirely substituted. The original creditor (cedent) loses his right to claim and the new creditor (cessionary) gains that right.

When an ecclesiastic is createdbishop, or when aparson orrector takes another benefice without dispensation, the first benefice becomes void by a legal cession, or surrender.

Look upretrocession in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Retrocession is the return of something (e.g., land or territory) that was ceded in general or, specifically:

Examples:

• District of Columbia retrocession, the retrocession to Virginia, and potentially to Maryland, of the land ceded to create the District of Columbia
• Retrocession ofLouisiana (New Spain) from Spain to France, formally accomplished just three weeks before the U.S. received the Louisiana Purchase lands from France

• The claimed "Taiwan retrocession" refers to the view that thesovereignty overTaiwan has been handed over in 1945 from Japan to theRepublic of China, the widely-recognized government ofChina at the time, following Japan's defeat inWWII. Whether this "retrocession" is legitimate underinternational law is adisputed issue in the complexpolitical status of Taiwan. See also:Taiwan Retrocession Day.

Ininsurance, retrocessional arrangements generally are governed by a reinsurance or retrocessional agreement and the principles applicable to reinsurance also are applicable to retrocessional cover.

• Boundary dispute – Disagreement over the possession or control of land between countries or their subdivisionsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Ecclesiastical ordinances – Type of law in some churchesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Escheat – State taking ownership of 'unowned' land
• Jurisdiction – Authority granted to a legal body or political leader to deal with legal matters
• Land back – Movement by Indigenous people in North America to reclaim landsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• List of territory purchased by a sovereign nation from another sovereign nation
• State cessions – U.S. areas ceded by states to the federal government

• Civil law (common law)
• International law
• Judicial remedies
• Political geography
• Property law
• Reinsurance
• Sovereignty

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