The common answer is that a copyright license are only a pure set of permissions that enable a person to do something which otherwise would make an activity illegal.
A contract in contrast is an agreement between minds that defines rights and duties of the parties.
In addition, a copyright license can only give permission for activity which copyright law make illegal. It is limited to be within the scope of what copyright law already restrict. A contract on other hand is only limited by contract law. A typical restriction on contract is that you need to be an adult of legal capacity, ie not a child or under a legal guardian. If a software license is governed by contract law then those restrictions would suddenly apply to software licenses, and the scope of a copyright license could go beyond that of copyright law, both which sounds strange unless contract law has specific rules in places for copyright licenses.
My guess is that french contract law actually have specific rules for copyright licenses, in which case it is more similar to copyright law of other countries but simply placed under the heading of contract law.
The common answer is that a copyright license are only a pure set of permissions that enable a person to do something which otherwise would make an activity illegal.
A contract in contrast is an agreement between minds that defines rights and duties of the parties.
In addition, a copyright license can only give permission for activity which copyright law make illegal. It is limited to be within the scope of what copyright law already restrict. A contract on other hand is only limited by contract law. A typical restriction on contract is that you need to be an adult of legal capacity, ie not a child or under a legal guardian. If a software license is governed by contract law then those restrictions would suddenly apply to software licenses, and the scope of a copyright license could go beyond that of copyright law, both which sounds strange unless contract law has specific rules in places for copyright licenses.
My guess is that french contract law actually have specific rules for copyright licenses, in which case it is more similar to copyright law of other countries but simply placed under the heading of contract law.