The lawful grant of a permission to do something that would otherwise not be legal or allowed, for example, to occupy a property or to assign a lease where the landlord's consent is required.

In the context of intellectual property (IP) law, a licence is permission or authority granted by the owner of intellectual property rights (the licensor) to another entity (the licensee) to exercise rights that would otherwise be reserved to the owner of the IP, subject to agreed terms and conditions. In IP transactions, a licence is a common means of granting IP rights without selling or assigning title to the rights held. A licensor usually requires payment by the licensee of a royalty periodically for the rights granted.