diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/audit.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/audit.rb
index 476f2aec05..533ede70d9 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/audit.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/audit.rb
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ module Hbc
       %i{version sha256 url homepage}.each do |sym|
         add_error "a #{sym} stanza is required" unless cask.send(sym)
       end
-      add_error "a license stanza is required (:unknown is OK)" unless cask.license
       add_error "at least one name stanza is required" if cask.name.empty?
       # TODO: specific DSL knowledge should not be spread around in various files like this
       # TODO: nested_container should not still be a pseudo-artifact at this point
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/cask.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/cask.rb
index 1e2056efc7..b66f16a8ef 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/cask.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/cask.rb
@@ -102,7 +102,6 @@ module Hbc
         :url,
         :appcast,
         :version,
-        :license,
         :sha256,
         :artifacts,
         :caveats,
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl.rb
index 8e0a7715af..f074830cb3 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl.rb
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ require "hbc/dsl/container"
 require "hbc/dsl/depends_on"
 require "hbc/dsl/gpg"
 require "hbc/dsl/installer"
-require "hbc/dsl/license"
 require "hbc/dsl/postflight"
 require "hbc/dsl/preflight"
 require "hbc/dsl/stanza_proxy"
@@ -66,7 +65,6 @@ module Hbc
                             :gpg,
                             :homepage,
                             :language,
-                            :license,
                             :name,
                             :sha256,
                             :staged_path,
@@ -206,16 +204,6 @@ module Hbc
       @sha256 ||= arg
     end
 
-    def license(arg = nil)
-      return @license if arg.nil?
-      assert_only_one_stanza_allowed :license, !arg.nil?
-      @license ||= begin
-        DSL::License.new(arg) unless arg.nil?
-      rescue StandardError => e
-        raise CaskInvalidError.new(token, e)
-      end
-    end
-
     # depends_on uses a load method so that multiple stanzas can be merged
     def depends_on(*args)
       return @depends_on if args.empty?
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl/license.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl/license.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index affbc08f51..0000000000
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/lib/hbc/dsl/license.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-module Hbc
-  class DSL
-    class License
-      # a generic category can always be given as a license, so
-      # category names should be given as both key and value
-      VALID_LICENSES = {
-                         # license         category
-                         unknown:       :unknown,
-
-                         other:         :other,
-
-                         closed:        :closed,
-                         commercial:    :closed,
-                         gratis:        :closed,
-                         freemium:      :closed,
-
-                         oss:           :oss,
-                         affero:        :oss,
-                         apache:        :oss,
-                         arphic:        :oss,
-                         artistic:      :oss,
-                         bsd:           :oss,
-                         cc:            :oss,
-                         eclipse:       :oss,
-                         gpl:           :oss,
-                         isc:           :oss,
-                         lppl:          :oss,
-                         ncsa:          :oss,
-                         mit:           :oss,
-                         mpl:           :oss,
-                         ofl:           :oss,
-                         public_domain: :oss,
-                         ubuntu_font:   :oss,
-                         x11:           :oss,
-                       }.freeze
-
-      DEFAULT_LICENSE = :unknown
-      DEFAULT_CATEGORY = VALID_LICENSES[DEFAULT_LICENSE]
-
-      attr_reader :value
-
-      def self.check_constants
-        categories = Set.new(VALID_LICENSES.values)
-        categories.each do |cat|
-          next if VALID_LICENSES.key?(cat)
-          raise "license category is not a value: '#{@cat.inspect}'"
-        end
-      end
-
-      def self.category(license)
-        VALID_LICENSES.fetch(license, DEFAULT_CATEGORY)
-      end
-
-      def initialize(arg)
-        @value = arg
-        @value = DEFAULT_LICENSE if @value.nil?
-        return if VALID_LICENSES.key?(@value)
-        raise "invalid license value: '#{@value.inspect}'"
-      end
-
-      def category
-        self.class.category(@value)
-      end
-
-      def to_s
-        @value.inspect
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/cask/audit_spec.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/cask/audit_spec.rb
index 87758a1af8..7094ea3a89 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/cask/audit_spec.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/cask/audit_spec.rb
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ describe Hbc::Audit do
     subject { audit.run! }
 
     describe "required stanzas" do
-      %w[version sha256 url name homepage license].each do |stanza|
+      %w[version sha256 url name homepage].each do |stanza|
         context "when missing #{stanza}" do
           let(:cask_token) { "missing-#{stanza}" }
           it { is_expected.to fail_with(%r{#{stanza} stanza is required}) }
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/support/Casks/missing-license.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/support/Casks/missing-license.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 30f3791c77..0000000000
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/spec/support/Casks/missing-license.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-test_cask 'missing-license' do
-  version '1.2.3'
-
-  url 'http://localhost/something.dmg'
-end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/cli/create_test.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/cli/create_test.rb
index efca1a5064..06c2d203c5 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/cli/create_test.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/cli/create_test.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ describe Hbc::CLI::Create do
         url 'https://'
         name ''
         homepage ''
-        license :unknown # TODO: change license and remove this comment; ':unknown' is a machine-generated placeholder
 
         app ''
       end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/dsl_test.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/dsl_test.rb
index 053eae1e1d..d3361080b1 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/dsl_test.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/cask/dsl_test.rb
@@ -406,31 +406,6 @@ describe Hbc::DSL do
     end
   end
 
-  describe "license stanza" do
-    it "allows the license to be specified" do
-      cask = Hbc.load("with-license")
-      cask.license.value.must_equal :gpl
-    end
-
-    it "the license has a category" do
-      cask = Hbc.load("with-license")
-      cask.license.category.must_equal :oss
-    end
-
-    it "prevents defining multiple license stanzas" do
-      err = lambda {
-        Hbc.load("invalid/invalid-license-multiple")
-      }.must_raise(Hbc::CaskInvalidError)
-      err.message.must_include "'license' stanza may only appear once"
-    end
-
-    it "refuses to load on invalid license value" do
-      lambda {
-        Hbc.load("invalid/invalid-license-value")
-      }.must_raise(Hbc::CaskInvalidError)
-    end
-  end
-
   describe "installer stanza" do
     it "allows installer script to be specified" do
       cask = Hbc.load("with-installer-script")
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/invalid/invalid-license-multiple.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/invalid/invalid-license-multiple.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 706b9490b9..0000000000
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/invalid/invalid-license-multiple.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-test_cask 'invalid-license-multiple' do
-  version '2.61'
-  sha256 'e44ffa103fbf83f55c8d0b1bea309a43b2880798dae8620b1ee8da5e1095ec68'
-
-  url TestHelper.local_binary_url('transmission-2.61.dmg')
-  homepage 'http://example.com/invalid-license-multiple'
-  license :gpl
-  license :gpl
-
-  app 'Transmission.app'
-end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/invalid/invalid-license-value.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/invalid/invalid-license-value.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index dbc36e5810..0000000000
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/invalid/invalid-license-value.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-test_cask 'invalid-license-value' do
-  version '2.61'
-  sha256 'e44ffa103fbf83f55c8d0b1bea309a43b2880798dae8620b1ee8da5e1095ec68'
-
-  url TestHelper.local_binary_url('transmission-2.61.dmg')
-  homepage 'http://example.com/invalid-license-value'
-  license :no_such_license
-
-  app 'Transmission.app'
-end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-license.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-license.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 6a85c8e319..0000000000
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-license.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-test_cask 'with-license' do
-  version '2.61'
-  sha256 'e44ffa103fbf83f55c8d0b1bea309a43b2880798dae8620b1ee8da5e1095ec68'
-
-  url TestHelper.local_binary_url('transmission-2.61.dmg')
-  homepage 'http://example.com/with-license'
-  license :gpl
-
-  app 'Transmission.app'
-end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-suite.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-suite.rb
index dbaaaea679..e92b224253 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-suite.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cask/test/support/Casks/with-suite.rb
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ test_cask 'with-suite' do
   url TestHelper.local_binary_url('caffeine-suite.zip')
   name 'Caffeine'
   homepage 'http://example.com/with-suite'
-  license :unknown # TODO: change license and remove this comment; ':unknown' is a machine-generated placeholder
 
   suite 'Caffeine'
 end