View source for Cession

{{Use American English|date = January 2019}}
{{Short description|Voluntary territorial transfer by treaty}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = January 2019}}
{{Redirect|Cede|the financial institution|Cede and Company}}
{{distinguish|Session (disambiguation){{!}}session|secession}}
The act of '''cession''' is the assignment of [[property]] to another entity.  In [[international law]] it commonly refers to [[List of countries and territories by land borders|land]] transferred by [[treaty]]. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdiction by a board in favor of another agency."<ref>''Ballentine's Law Dictionary'', p. 72.</ref> In contrast with [[annexation]], where property is forcibly seized, cession is voluntary or at least apparently so.

==Examples==

In 1790, the U.S. states of [[Maryland]] and [[Virginia]] both ceded land to create the [[District of Columbia]], as specified in the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]] of the previous year. The Virginia portion was [[Retrocession (District of Columbia)|given back]] in 1847, a process known as "retrocession".

Following the [[First Opium War]] (1839{{ndash}}1842) and [[Second Opium War]] (1856{{ndash}}1860), [[Hong Kong]] ([[Treaty of Nanking]]) and [[Kowloon]] ([[Convention of Peking]]) were ceded by the [[Qing dynasty]] government of [[China]] to the [[United Kingdom]]; and following defeat in the [[First Sino-Japanese War]], [[Taiwan]] was ceded to the  [[Empire of Japan]] in 1895.

[[Territory (country subdivision)|Territory]] can also be ceded for payment, such as in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and [[Alaska Purchase]].

==Specific areas of law==

===Contract law===

This is a yielding up, or release.<ref>''Balentine's Law Dictionary'', p. 72.</ref>  [[France]] ceded [[Louisiana]] to the [[United States]] by the treaty of Paris, of April 30, 1803 following the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. Spain made a cession of [[East Florida|East]] and [[West 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.

===Civil law===

Under the [[civil law system]], cession is the equivalent of [[assignment (law)|assignment]], and therefore, is an act by which a personal claim is transferred from the assignor (the ''cedent'') to the assignee (the ''cessionary''). Whereas [[ius in re|real right]]s are transferred by delivery, [[in personam|personal right]]s 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.

===Ecclesiastical law===

When an ecclesiastic is created [[bishop]], or when a [[parson]] or [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] takes another benefice without dispensation, the first benefice becomes void by a legal cession, or surrender.

==Retrocession==
{{Wiktionary|retrocession}}
'''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 of [[Louisiana (New Spain)]] from Spain to France, formally accomplished just three weeks before the U.S. received the Louisiana Purchase lands from France

=== Disputed case ===

*The claimed "Taiwan retrocession" refers to the view that the [[sovereignty]] of [[Taiwan]] has been handed over in 1945 from Japan to the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], the widely-recognized government of [[China]] at the time, following Japan's loss in [[World War II|WWII]]. Whether this "retrocession" is legitimate under [[international law]] is a [[Theory of the Undetermined Status of Taiwan|disputed issue]] in the complex [[political status of Taiwan]]. See also: [[Taiwan Retrocession Day]].

In [[insurance]], retrocessional arrangements generally are governed by a reinsurance or retrocessional agreement and the principles applicable to reinsurance also are applicable to retrocessional cover.

== See also ==

* {{annotated link|Boundary dispute}}
* {{annotated link|Ecclesiastical ordinances}}
* {{annotated link|Escheat}}
* {{annotated link|Jurisdiction}}
* {{annotated link|Land back}}
* {{annotated link|List of territory purchased by a sovereign nation from another sovereign nation}}
* {{annotated link|State cessions}}

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Civil law (common law)]]
[[Category:International law]]
[[Category:Judicial remedies]]
[[Category:Political geography]]
[[Category:Property law]]
[[Category:Reinsurance]]
[[Category:Sovereignty]]

{{Autonomous types of first-tier administration}}