Sumptuary Laws

The laws that, since medieval times, were created to limit the consumption of specific commodities were called sumptuary laws. These laws were mostly used to regulate the consumption of clothes. In many [Page 1404]cases, and especially in the Middle Ages, they also included precise limits on how much people of different social classes could legitimately spend on ceremonies, especially important family rituals such as weddings and funerals. A second feature of the sumptuary laws was that they regulated not all types of consumption, but only those that were deemed to be excessive or superfluous (“sumptuous”) or not suitable to the social status of the consumer: their overall aim was to curb and control any manifestations of excess.

It might appear strange to us that for centuries the governments of most European nations, and of many other countries and empires around the globe, regulated by law what people could or could not consume. Clearly, moral concerns, as well as the welfare of the state, were in the legislators' minds when listing with precision the types of commodities to be banned. Regulation of consumption is still with us today, but it has lost its moral nature and has widely different forms. Sumptuary laws were increasingly ignored by the end of the ancien régime and often repealed by the late-eighteenth century. Since then, states have used the tool of taxation as a more effective means to guide people's consumption while creating revenue for the state. In the West, regulations, especially on dress, still exist, but they have been left to the democratic decision-making processes of local bodies. (Schools, churches, or even nightclubs might impose dress codes, but their application is consensual.) The state today imposes limits on consumption to protect the liberties and safety of its citizens (bans on products that might harm or endanger them), and more rarely is asked to legislate on forms of consumption with strong symbolic meanings such as the wearing of religious symbols or the use of the veil.

Sumptuary laws were not uncommon in the ancient world, but it was from the mid-twelfth century that they reappeared in England, France, and Italy, as well as China, Japan, and Latin America as pointed out by Alan Hunt. Between the twelfth and the eighteenth centuries, they were to be found in most European countries. In Italy alone, more than three hundred sumptuary laws were produced between 1200 and 1500. Because of their abundance in Italy, Catalonia, and the southern parts of France (Languedoc and Provence), followed only after the fifteenth century by England and France, historians suggest that sumptuary laws were more common in economically dynamic parts of the continent, especially where the population was rich enough to display its wealth through dress and ceremonies. However, a simple quantitative analysis cannot reveal any meaningful pattern as it was not uncommon to reissue sumptuary laws for the same cities or states by revising or expanding the list of forbidden goods.

Why would a state want to control its citizens' expenditure? This entry has already mentioned that the moral and material welfare of the population was at stake. Sumptuary laws were part of a series of measures to prevent moral degeneration that in turn would have created economic disaster and social unrest. And this moral need was aimed not just at the lower classes but also at those who governed the city or state. The moral argument put forward by legislators was supported also by priests, monks, and other religious men who were equally worried about how overindulgence in the mundane consumption of dress or expenditure on ceremonies could divert the attention of Christians away from the heavenly world and therefore displease God. Both legislators and preachers complained, for instance, that laws were needed, as it was becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish virtuous ladies from common prostitutes because they wore similar outfits. Church and state agreed also that sumptuary laws could instill correct behaviors by forcing people to fulfill their civic and religious duties. By encouraging saving rather than wasteful spending, and by decreasing the cost of weddings, young couples could more easily marry and have children.

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