Is a license by parol as valid as a grant valid?

Wood v. Leadbitter, 13 M. & W. 838, 845, states the common law doctrine: “A license by parol coupled with a grant, is as irrevocable as a license by deed, provided only that the grant is of a nature capable of being made by parol. But where there is a license by parol, coupled with a parol grant * * of something which is incapable of being granted otherwise than by deed, there the license is a mere license; it is not an incident to a valid grant, and it is therefore revocable.”

See the notes to the American edition, p. 855, and Hewlins v. Shippam, 5 B. & C. 221, where it was held that where, for valuable consideration, the defendant had permitted the plaintiff to make, at his own expense, a drain on the defendant’s land, the defendant might, nevertheless, stop it at his pleasure, because the easement of its continual use could only be granted by deed.