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A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a ''cab'', ''black cab'', ''hack'' or ''London taxi'') is a carriage or automobile for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. In the United Kingdom, the name ''hackney carriage'' today refers to a taxicab licensed by the Public Carriage Office, local authority (non-metropolitan district councils, unitary authorities) or the Department of the Environment depending on region of the country. In the United States, the police department of the city of Boston has a Hackney Carriage Unit, analogous to taxicab regulators in other cities, that issues ''Hackney Carriage'' medallions to its taxi operators. ==Etymology== The name 'hackney' was once thought to be an anglicized derivative of French ''haquenée''—a horse of medium size recommended for lady riders; however, current opinion is that it is derived from the village name Hackney (now part of London). Despite the currency of this opinion, however, earlier sources dispute it. In 1908, a popular London newspaper stated, "The hackney coach - which is commonly supposed, though wrongly, to have taken its name from the district in the north of London - was started in the metropolis so long ago as 1025 by a certain Captain Bailey." The place-name, through its fame for its horses and horse-drawn carriages, is also the root of the Spanish word ''jaca'', a term used for a small breed of horse and the Sardinian achetta horse. The first documented 'hackney coach'—the forerunner of the more generic 'hackney carriage'—operated in London in 1621. The New York colloquial terms "hack" (taxi or taxi-driver), "hackstand" (taxi stand), and "hack license" (taxi license) are probably derived from "hackney carriage". Such cabs are now regulated by the (New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission ). ==History== "An Ordinance for the Regulation of Hackney-Coachmen in London and the places adjacent" was approved by Parliament in 1654, to remedy what it described as the "many Inconveniences () do daily arise by reason of the late increase and great irregularity of Hackney Coaches and Hackney Coachmen in London, Westminster and the places thereabouts".〔(An Ordinance for the Regulation of Hackney-Coachmen in London and the places adjacent, June 1654 ) British History Online〕 The first hackney-carriage licences date from 1662, and applied literally to horse-drawn carriages, later modernised as hansom cabs (1834), that operated as vehicles for hire. 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 ''jarvie''). In 19th century London, private carriages were commonly sold off for use as hackney carriages, often displaying painted-over traces of the previous owner's coat of arms on the doors. The growler was a type of four-wheel, enclosed carriage drawn by two horses〔Busch, Noel F. (1947) "Life's Reports: Restful Days in Dublin" " ''Life Magazine'' 15 September 1947 (page 9 ), includes a photograph of a growler.〕 used as a hackney carriage, that is, as a vehicle for hire with a coachman. It is distinguished from a cab, hansom cab or cabriolet, in that those had only two wheels. It is distinguished from most coaches by being of slightly smaller size, holding nominally four passengers,〔Knox, Thomas Wallace (1888) ''The pocket guide for Europe: hand-book for travellers on the Continent and the British Isles, and through Egypt, Palestine, and northern Africa'' G. Putnam, New York, (page 34 ), 〕 and being much less ostentatious. A small, usually two-wheeled, one-horse hackney vehicle called a ''noddy'' once plied the roads in Ireland and Scotland. The French had a small hackney coach called a ''fiacre''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hackney carriage」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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