The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to 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" In contrast with annexation, where property is forcibly given up, cession is voluntary or at least apparently so.
A similar concept to cession is concession, while a recession is a completely different concept.
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