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

See Examples For:

sumptuary law

I was opposed to it because I thought there would be great difficulty in its enforcement, it being more or less like a sumptuary law.

From Time Magazine Archive

I mumble thanks for the advice, feeling like I’ve just been stripped naked by the crazed enforcer of some ancient sumptuary law: No chatting for you, girl.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

No sumptuary law will ever make any inroad on the cruel evil; and my feeling is one of sombre hopelessness.

From The Ethics of Drink and Other Social Questions Joints In Our Social Armour by Runciman, James

In 1542, a sumptuary law was passed in Venice, forbidding the metal laces embroidered in silk to be wider than “due dita,” i.e. about two inches.

From Needlework As Art by Alford, Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess

The Pope threatened a sumptuary law that they should have but one dish at their table: it was the rule of his own order.

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 by Johnson, Rossiter