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Alicensee can mean the holder of alicense or, inU.S.tort law, is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the licensee to enter. The status of a visitor as a licensee (as opposed to atrespasser or an invitee) defines the legal rights of the visitor if they are injured due to thenegligence of the property possessor (not necessarily the owner).
Where licensees are present, activities conducted on the land by or at the behest of the owner of the land must be conducted with the care that a prudent person would show. Aduty to warn arises if there is a harmful condition on the land that is hidden from the licensee, so long as the landowner knows of this condition. The licensee falls between the anticipated or discovered trespasser and the invitee on the sliding scale of tort liability assessed to landowners. Whereas the anticipated trespasser needs to be protected from known man made conditionscapable of causing death or serious injury, the licensee must be warned of all known dangers. However, unlike an invitee, a licensee has no standing to sue for dangerous conditions that "should have been" discovered by the property owner but were not actually known to the owner.[1]
Under traditionalcommon law, a property possessor (not necessarily the owner) has no duty whatsoever to trespassers. Some states retain the traditional common law rule, while other states, such asCalifornia, have imposed a reasonable duty of care toward all people who enter a property.
Even states that have retained the traditional common law rule regarding the absence of duty towards a trespasser may impose a duty of care towards certain kinds of trespassers. For example, a dangerous condition may effectively invite children to come onto the property. Such anattractive nuisance may impose a duty of care even towards trespassers.
Historically,emergency workers – police andfirefighters – have been considered licensees, but they are barred fromrecovering from injuries caused by the risks inherent to their jobs. Generally such injuries are instead covered byworker's compensation.