Sumptuary laws

The sumptuary laws (from Latin sumptuāriae lēgēs) are laws that attempted to regulate consumption; Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc." Historically, they were laws that were intended to regulate and reinforce social hierarchies and morals through restrictions, often depending upon a person's social rank, on their permitted clothing, food, and luxury expenditures.

Societies have used sumptuary laws for a variety of purposes. They were used as an attempt to regulate the balance of trade by limiting the market for expensive imported goods. They made it easy to identify social rank and privilege, and as such could be used for social discrimination.

The laws frequently prevented commoners from imitating the appearance of aristocrats and also could be used to stigmatize disfavored groups. In the Late Middle Ages, sumptuary laws in medieval cities were instituted as a way for the nobility to cap or limit the conspicuous consumption of the prosperous bourgeoisie. If bourgeois subjects appeared to be as wealthy or wealthier than the ruling nobility, it could undermine the nobility's presentation of themselves as powerful, legitimate rulers. This could call into question their ability to control and defend their fief, and inspire potential traitors and rebels. Such laws continued to be used for these purposes well into the 17th century.

The first written Greek law code (Locrian code), by Zaleucus in the 7th century BC, stipulated that:

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