The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

it commonly refers to

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

transferred by

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdiction by a board in favor of another agency." In contrast with

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

, 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

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nationa ...

of the previous year. The Virginia portion was given back in 1847, a process known as "retrocession". Following the First Opium War (18391842) and Second Opium War (18561860), Hong Kong ( Treaty of Nanking) and Kowloon (

Convention of Peking The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860. In China, they are regarded as amo ...

) 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 A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

can also be ceded for payment, such as in the Louisiana Purchase and

Alaska Purchase The Alaska Purchase (russian: Продажа Аляски, Prodazha Alyaski, Sale of Alaska) was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a ...

Specific areas of law

Contract law

This is a yielding up, or release.''Balentine's Law Dictionary'', p. 72. France ceded Louisiana to the United States by the treaty of Paris, of April 30, 1803. Spain made a cession of 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 Civil law is a legal system originating in mainland Europe and adopted in much of the world. The civil law system is intellectualized within the framework of Roman law, and with core principles codified into a referable system, which serves as th ...

, cession is the equivalent of assignment, and therefore, is an act by which a personal claim is transferred from the assignor (the ''cedent'') to the assignee (the ''cessionary''). Whereas

real right Ius in re, or jus in re, under civil law, more commonly referred to as a real right or right ''in rem'', is a right in property, known as an interest under common law. A real right vests in a person with respect to property, inherent in his relatio ...

s 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.

Ecclesiastical law

When an ecclesiastic is created

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, or when a parson or

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

takes another benefice without dispensation, the first benefice becomes void by a legal cession, or surrender.

Retrocession

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

District of Columbia retrocession A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, the retrocession to Virginia, and potentially to Maryland, of the land ceded to create the District of Columbia *Retrocession of

Louisiana (New Spain) Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...

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, the widely-recognized government of China at the time, following Japan's loss in

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Whether this "retrocession" is legitimate under

is a disputed issue in the complex political status of Taiwan. See also:

Taiwan Retrocession Day Retrocession Day is the name given to the annual observance and a former public holiday in Taiwan to commemorate the end of Japanese rule of Taiwan and Penghu, and the claimed retrocession ("return") of Taiwan to the Republic of China on 25 O ...

. 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.

References

Civil law (common law) International law Judicial remedies Political geography Property law Reinsurance Sovereignty {{Autonomous types of first-tier administration