Hackney Carriages, Metropolis Act 1838

The Hackney Carriages, Metropolis Act 1838 (1 & 2 Vict. c. 79) regulated and set up a licensing system for hackney carriages in London, namely the Office of the Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages

It was updated by the London Hackney Carriages Act 1850, (13 & 14 Vict. c. 7) granted royal assent on 25 March 1850 and taking effect from 5 April 1850. That abolished the office of Registrar and instead added his duties to those of the Commissioners (later Commissioner) of Police for the Metropolis, head of the Metropolitan Police (later expanded or delegated to an Assistant Commissioner by the Metropolitan Police Act 1856), effectively creating the Public Carriage Office, which remained within the Metropolitan Police until 2000 when it was taken over by Transport for London.

The 1850 Act also provided retiring allowances for clerks and officers who lost their job due to the abolition of the office of Registrar, enabled the Commissioners to set up taxi ranks or "standings", repealed any extant provisions on "standings" in Acts prior to the London Hackney Carriages Act 1843 and maintained the Bloomsbury Square Act 1806's ban on hackney coaches in or near Bloomsbury Square.