Groklaw: The Daemon, the GNU & the Penguin–Ch. 17

“A license is formal permission for something. In general, this
is written permission. Historically, such things began with
(unwritten) permission to ‘go upon or use the land of another’–to
cross a lord’s manor or forest, for example–as a ‘personal
privilege, not constituting an interest in the land.’

“Copyright is a form of an exclusive license. It is a license
granted by the state to the ‘author,’ granting them a monopoly on
certain activities for a time. The first copyright statute was the
Statute of Anne, usually cited as 1709. (As with almost everything,
the date is ambiguous: the Statute was introduced in 1709, but
‘passed into law’ on 10 April 1710…”

Complete
Story