Okay, what the heck is with this business of secondary markets for licenses in the US? You can sell a liquor license? You can sell a taxi license (aka medallion)? Why? How does treating licenses as property make any legal sense, or serve any public good?
In the UK, if you want to sell booze from your shop, you write to the council and apply for a license. They check you and your shop out, and if you seem okay, they grant it. If you want to drive a taxi around your town, you write to the council and apply for a license. They check you and your car out, and if you seem okay, they grant it. This seems really simple and, frankly, natural. It's how all sorts of licenses work in the private sector too - think about copyright licenses, tenancies, etc. How on earth do you get from there to licenses being a kind of property?
In the UK, if you want to sell booze from your shop, you write to the council and apply for a license. They check you and your shop out, and if you seem okay, they grant it. If you want to drive a taxi around your town, you write to the council and apply for a license. They check you and your car out, and if you seem okay, they grant it. This seems really simple and, frankly, natural. It's how all sorts of licenses work in the private sector too - think about copyright licenses, tenancies, etc. How on earth do you get from there to licenses being a kind of property?