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Kyle P.'s avatar

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

Sumptuary laws in Medieval England , aimed at keeping the main population dressed according to their "station", do not begin until the later 13th century. These included non-lords from wearing pointy shoes and velvet, which were status symbols of the rich.

In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a 1634 prohibition deemed that only people with a personal fortune of at least two hundred pounds could wear lace, silver or gold thread or buttons, cutwork, embroidery, hatbands, belts, ruffles, capes, and other articles. After a few decades, the law was being widely defied. By 1651, flouting of the rules causes the leadership to issue a new strongly worded regulation to the populace again.

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AH's avatar

Thanks for doing this because your idea of luxury beliefs is so important to conversations about social justice written in language so arcane you need a PhD to decipher it (perfect example of LBs). I've taught the essay in my First Year Seminar and upper-level English courses at a small liberal arts college the last couple of years with much success.

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