licence vs legal instrument

licence and legal instrument both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
licence	Yes	No	Yes	No
legal instrument	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, legal instrument is a hypernym of licence; that is, legal instrument is a word with a broader meaning than licence:

licence: a legal document giving official permission to do something
legal instrument: (law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right

Other hypernyms of licence include instrument, legal document, official document.

licence (noun)	legal instrument (noun)
a legal document giving official permission to do something	(law) a document that states some contractual relationship or grants some right
freedom to deviate deliberately from normally applicable rules or practices (especially in behavior or speech)
excessive freedom; lack of due restraint

licence (verb)	legal instrument (verb)
authorize officially