licence

1) Official permission to do something that is forbidden without a licence (e. g. sell alcohol or own a TV or a firearm). Licences may be required for social reasons or simply to enable revenue to be collected. Since the Consumer Credit Act (1974) all businesses involved with giving credit to purchasers of goods must be licensed by the Office of Fair Trading.

2) See franchise

3) Formal permission to enter or occupy land. Such licenses are of three kinds.

(a) The simplest gives the licensee the permission of the landowner to be on land (e. g. the right of a visitor to enter a house). It may be revoked at any time as long as the licensee is given time to leave.

(b) Contractual licences are permissions to be on land in the furtherance of some contractual right (e. g. the right of the holder of a cinema ticket to be in the cinema). This type of licence has been used to get round the Rent Acts (which apply to leases only): a licence to occupy a flat or house may be granted, which is said to be revocable at any time. It has been held that if the licence gives the licensee exclusive possession of the property, it is in fact a lease, despite the fact that it is called a licence. The exact state of the law in this area is uncertain. It is also unclear whether a contractual licence can be made irrevocable and binding on those who were not a party to the contract (e. g. purchasers of the land). It was originally held that a licence could always be revoked, although damages might be payable. Recent cases have cast doubt on this proposition.

(c) Licences coupled with an interest are those that go with a recognizable interest in the land of another. Such licences are irrevocable and assignable. They bind successors in title in the same way as the interest in land to which they relate.

4) A carrier's licence.