Zessionar

Zessionar is a legal term used in some civil-law jurisdictions to denote the recipient of a claim or right that is transferred in a cession (assignment). It is derived from the German Zession, with the person bearing the suffix -ar to indicate a holder or agent; in German the form appears as Zessionär, and in English you may encounter cessionary or assignee, though Zessionar is chiefly found in historical or regional usage.

In a typical cession, the Zedent (the transferor) assigns a contractual right or debt to the Zessionar. After the transfer, the Zessionar generally steps into the role of creditor and may demand payment, enforce the contract, and sue for performance. The debtor is usually notified of the transfer; until notice is given, the debtor may continue to satisfy the original creditor.

Legal effects and procedures vary by jurisdiction. Some systems require a written assignment or formal notice to be effective, while others treat the transfer as occurring by agreement between parties. Defenses and obligations of the debtor often pass to the Zessionar to the extent of the assigned claim, but guarantees or unrelated obligations may remain with the Zedent. In practice, Zessionars are common in commercial finance, including factoring, debt collection, and securitization.

Alternative terms in English include assignment recipient, assignee, or cessionary; Zessionar is most often used in Germanic-speaking or historically influenced legal literature.