sumptuary law

American  

noun

1. a law regulating personal habits that offend the moral or religious beliefs of the community.

2. a law regulating personal expenditures designed to restrain extravagance, especially in food and dress.

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sumptuary law British  

noun

1. (formerly) a law imposing restraint on luxury, esp by limiting personal expenditure or by regulating personal conduct in religious and moral spheres

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Etymology

Origin of sumptuary law

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

In 1362 Pope Urban V tried to ban them completely - and in 1463 the UK Parliament under Edward IV passed a sumptuary law to stop anyone lower in rank than lord to wear shoes longer than two inches in the points.

From BBC

The novel almost dares readers to object to its inwardness — “It’s like there’s a new sumptuary law against introspection,” one of the four complains — but its tender, psychologically precise prose feels like a bulwark against the exposure it takes for a subject.

From New York Times

“It’s like there’s a new sumptuary law against introspection.”

From The New Yorker

“It’s like there’s a sumptuary law against introspection.”

From Washington Post

The French have a history of imposing this 21st-century equivalent of medieval sumptuary law on other items of Muslim dress.

From The Wall Street Journal