This word properly denotes a voluntary surrender of rights or claims; the act of divesting oneself of that which was previously claimed as one's own, or renouncing it In this sense it is the opposite of “appropriation.” But a meaning has been attached to the term, imported from its use in foreign jurisprudence, which makes it synonymous with the exercise of the power of eminent domain, i. e., the compulsory taking from a person, on compensation made, of his private property for the use of a railroad, canal, or other public work
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
