License

License (Licensing Laws) generally is an authority to do something which would otherwise be inoperative, wrongful, or illegal. In regard to real property a license is an authority to do an act which would otherwise be a trespass. Thus a lease often contains a covenant by the lessee not to assign without license. A marriage license is an authority enabling two persons to be married. [Marriage.] Licenses for the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks and refreshments are of three kinds, according to the authorities by whom they are granted. A Magistrate's License is analogous to a certificate that the applicant is a proper person to be intrusted with the sale of intoxicating liquors and that the premises which he occupies are suitable for the purpose. In counties new licenses are granted by the justices present at the meeting for that purpose held by them every year, and called "The General Annual Licensing Meeting," and must be confirmed - except in the case of outdoor licenses - by a standing committee appointed every year from among themselves by the justices at Quarter Sessions and known as the "County Licensing Committee." In boroughs licenses are granted by the "Borough Licensing Committee," appointed every year from among themselves by the borough justices, and confirmed by the whole body of borough justices, or if the borough has not ten justices, licenses are granted by the borough justices and confirmed by a "joint committee" composed of six borough and county justices. The Magistrate's License entitles the holder to take out the corresponding Excise License which is granted by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and is a mode of levying a tax on the sale of liquors and refreshments. Both Magistrates' and Excise Licenses require to be renewed every year, and are of various descriptions according to the number and kind of liquors authorised to be sold under them (the public-house license, the beer license, etc.), and as to whether the liquor is to be consumed on or off the premises and to the period of day during which such consumption is authorised. A provisional license may also be granted in respect to premises about to be constructed or in course of construction. An additional license is one granted to the holder of a "strong beer dealer's wholesale license," and authorises him to sell beer by retail for consumption off the premises. There are also excise licenses granted without the necessity of a Magistrate's License - for instance, the "Refreshment House License," which does not authorise the sale of intoxicating liquors, and the licenses to brewers, wholesale beer-dealers, maltsters, distillers, dealers in foreign wines, manufacturers of and dealers in tobacco, etc. Among miscellaneous licenses may be mentioned the Occasional License, in the strict sense of the word, viz. a license granted by the excise authorities on the written consent of a justice to a person already licensed to sell liquors to be consumed off the premises, authorising the sale of them at some other place between certain hours and on a special occasion, viz. a fair, race, ball, etc., specified in the license. The term "occasional license "is also applied to an exemption granted by the Commissioners of Police or other "local authority" of the district exempting the person to whom it is granted from the rules relating to the closing of premises on a special occasion, e.g. a fete or ball, during certain hours specified in the license. There are also numerous other varieties of license, as for private lunatic asylums, music-halls, race-courses, theatres, game, hackney coaches, etc.