Authority's abuse of freedom (7)

I believe the answer is:

licence

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This might be a double definition.

'authority's' is the first definition.
(thesaurus)

'abuse of freedom' is the second definition.
'licence' can be an answer for 'freedom' (licence is a kind of freedom). I'm unsure of the 'abuse of' bit.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for licence that I've seen before include "Freedom of action" , "Permit - freedom" , "What a driver needs" , "See 1" , "the green light" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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