sumptuary laws

sumptuary laws , regulations based on social, religious, or moral grounds directed against overindulgence of luxury in diet and drink and extravagance in dress and mode of living. Such laws existed in ancient Greece and Rome, and in Japan they were applied to the peasant and commercial classes until the mid-19th cent. In the 14th and 15th cent. several statutes were passed in England that regulated ornateness of dress and the people's diet. These regulations varied according to the rank of the person, peasants being subject to rules different from those of the gentry. The main purpose of the legislation was to mark class distinctions clearly and to prevent any person from assuming the appearance of a superior class.

Bibliography: See F. E. Baldwin, Sumptuary Legislation and Personal Regulation in England (1926).

sumptuary laws were enacted in many countries between the 14th and 17th cents., and sought to prevent ostentatious display by the wealthy, and to keep the lower orders in their place. A statute of 1337 in England restricted the wearing of furs to those with an income of £100 p.a. By the Tudor period, English laws applied only to clothing and were repealed at the end of the 16th cent.

sumptuary laws appear to have reflected a view of society as a pyramid of social groups which had to be held together by preventing too great a variation in overt affluence. Such laws were enacted in many countries between the 14th and 17th cents., and sought to prevent ostentatious display by the wealthy, and to keep the lower orders in their place. A statute of 1337 in England restricted the wearing of furs to those with an income of £100 p.a., while a later scale confined ermine to the richest and restricted the poor to the furs of humble creatures, such as the cat, coney, or fox. By the Tudor period, English laws applied only to clothing and were repealed at the end of the 16th cent. Such laws were used for other forms of social engineering, by Peter the Great for whom western dress was a means to modernize Russia, while the English tried to impose a dress code on the Irish as a civilizing stratagem.

Clive H. Lee