Hackney carriage a 1662 Act of Parliament establishing the Commissioners of Scotland Yard to regulate them. Licences applied literally to horse-drawn carriages, later modernised as hansom cabs (1834), that operated as vehicles for hire. The 1662 act limited the licences to 400; when it expired in 1679, extra licences were created until a 1694 act imposed a limit of 700, which was increased by later acts and abolished in 1832. There was a distinction between a general hackney carriage and a hackney coach, a hireable vehicle with specifically four wheels, two horses and six seats, and driven by a "Jarvey" (also spelled
Float (horse-drawn) Float (horse-drawn) A float is a form of two-wheeled horse-drawn cart with a dropped axle to give an especially low loadbed. They were intended for carrying heavy or unstable items such as milk churns. The name survives today in that of the milkfloat. The axle passes beneath the loadbed of the cart but was cranked upwards at each side. This allows the load to be carried low, for stability and ease of loading with heavy objects such as churns or barrels. The high position of the stub axles allow large wheels, giving a smooth ride. The box body is open