Real Property: Servitudes: The License

The License – a mere privilege to enter another’s land for some delineated purpose.
  • Licenses are not subject to statute of frauds, so you don’t need a writing to create.
  • Freely revocable at the will of the licensor, unless estoppel applies to bar revocation.
  • Classic license cases
    • Ticket cases – tickets create freely revocable licenses
    • Neighbors talking by the fence (nothing good happens). Oral easement creates a freely revocable license.
    • Estoppel will apply to bar revocation only when the licensee has invested substantial money, or labor, or both in reasonable reliance on the license’s continuation.