  We further explore the counter-term subtraction definition of charges (e.g.,
energy) for classical gravitating theories in spacetimes of relevance to
gauge/gravity dualities; i.e., in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spaces and
their kin. In particular, we show in general that charges defined via the
counter-term subtraction method generate the desired asymptotic symmetries. As
a result, they can differ from any other such charges, such as those defined by
bulk spacetime-covariant techniques, only by a function of auxiliary
non-dynamical structures such as a choice of conformal frame at infinity (i.e.,
a function of the boundary fields alone). Our argument is based on the Peierls
bracket, and in the AdS context allows us to demonstrate the above result even
for asymptotic symmetries which generate only conformal symmetries of the
boundary (in the chosen conformal frame). We also generalize the counter-term
subtraction construction of charges to the case in which additional
non-vanishing boundary fields are present.
