Sumptuary Laws

A “Sumptuary Law” is any of a number of legal rulings, taxes, or other penalties meant to restrict the use or acquisition of certain luxury goods.

The specific goods have varied throughout history and across cultures, as have the details of the rules meant to limit their use or ownership. But in general, the idea is to ensure that prosperous citizens can’t challenge the royal or aristocratic hierarchy, both for law and order purposes, and for economic ones.

In the former case, it was possible that newly enriched but non-royal families might challenge the primacy of the royal family by wearing similar cuts of clothing, dyed with traditionally royal colors. They might also carry similar (and similarly adorned) swords, or other such accessories.