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 with annexation, where property is forcibly seized, cession is voluntary or at least apparently so.
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 of the previous year.
Spain made a cession of East and West Florida by the treaty of February 22, 1819.
Under the civil law system, 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).