Licensing as a Tool of Regulation and Governance

Licensing originates from more general practices of those with property rights carving out part of their interest to give limited rights to others in respect of their property, for example having rights to visit or stay on land, or to use copyrighted mater ial by performing a play or a song. In the armoury of tools and techniques for regulation licensing has a central place as the exercise of state control seeking to secure particular social and economic outcomes. The state’s capacity to license is special, as it is linked to the state monopoly over legitimate coercive power