A license authorizes the holder to do something that he or she would not be entitled to do without the license. Licensing may be directed toward revenue raising purposes, or toward regulation of the licensed activity, or both. Statutes frequently require that a person obtain a license before practicing certain professions such as law or medicine, or before carrying on a particular business such as that of a real estate broker or stock broker. If the license is required to protect the public from unqualified persons, an assignment of that license to secure a loan would probably not be enforceable.