Also known as: licenses · licensed · licensing · licensee · licensees · licensor · licensors · licensure · licentiate · licence · licences
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A permission, usually revocable, granted by a possessor of land to another to enter or remain on the land for a stated purpose that would otherwise amount to a trespass. The scope of the permission is determined by the terms of the consent that created it. No formalities are required for its creation or assignment unless the license is coupled with an interest in a chattel.
After a car accident, plaintiff Liam Larson placed his mental condition in controversy by claiming severe anxiety. The court ordered him to submit to an examination conducted by a suitably licensed psychologist chosen by the defendant. Larson complied and the examiner prepared a report that was later used at trial.
Lance Lee obtained permission from his neighbor to enter the garage at any time to retrieve tools. When Lee later entered the garage at night intending to steal cash, the neighbor's consent meant Lee was licensed to enter. The prosecution therefore could not establish the unlawful-entry element of burglary.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Lakeshore Industries orally told its supplier that delivery drivers could cross the loading dock to reach the warehouse. No writing or other formality was executed. The supplier's drivers used the route for months until the manufacturer revoked permission, at which point any further use became trespass.
Layla Lane invited her friend Landon Long to a backyard barbecue. Long wandered into the garage to look at tools and tripped over an unseen cord. Because Long entered solely by Lane's consent, he qualified as a licensee whose presence imposed only the duty to warn of known hidden dangers.
Lotus Pharmaceuticals spent substantial sums installing a pipeline across neighboring land after receiving written permission to do so. When the neighbor later attempted to revoke the permission, the court treated the license as irrevocable and therefore equivalent to an easement that could not be withdrawn.
After a shooting, police officer Luis Lopez sought counseling from a licensed clinical social worker. The officer later refused to disclose the session notes in a civil suit. Because the communications occurred during diagnosis or treatment by a licensed professional, federal common law protected them from compelled disclosure.
A license is revocable at the will of the licensor and creates no interest in land, whereas an easement is an interest that runs with the land and cannot be unilaterally revoked. The distinction turns on whether the parties intended a permanent right or merely temporary permission.
Yes. No formalities such as a writing or consideration are required to create a license. The extent of the permission is simply fixed by the terms of the consent given by the possessor.
A license becomes irrevocable when it is coupled with an interest in a chattel located on the land or when the licensee has made substantial expenditures in reasonable reliance on the permission. In those situations the license is treated as an easement under the Restatement (Third) of Property.
Yes. Under the Model Penal Code, a person who is licensed or privileged to enter premises cannot be guilty of burglary even if the entry is made with intent to commit a crime inside. The license negates the unlawful-entry element.
A licensee is a person who enters or remains on land solely by virtue of the possessor's consent. Social guests and delivery persons who have permission but no business purpose are classic examples.
…performed, that is, whether it must be a hospital or may be a clinic or some other place of less-than-hospital status; as to the licensing of the facility; and the like. This means, on the other hand, that, for the period of pregnancy prior to this "compelling" point, the attending physician, in consultation with his patient,…