Sumptuary law
Sumptuary laws (from
Societies have used sumptuary laws for a variety of purposes. They were used to try to regulate the balance of trade by limiting the market for expensive imported goods. They made it easy to identify
The laws often prevented
According to historian Lorraine Daston, sumptuary laws "furnish the historian of rules with an extreme case of rule failure," as such laws frequently failed to reduce excess and may even have exacerbated excess.[1] Sumptuary laws were often revisable regulations rather than stable laws, as governing authorities sought to prohibit the latest rebellious or extravagant fashions.[1]
Classical world
Ancient Greece
The seventh-century BC law code given to the Locrians by Zaleucus, the first written law code in Ancient Greece, stipulated:
A free-born woman may not be accompanied by more than one female slave, unless she is drunk; she may not leave the city during the night, unless she is planning to commit adultery; she may not wear gold jewelry or a garment with a purple border, unless she is a courtesan; and a husband may not wear a gold-studded ring or a cloak of Milesian fashion unless he is bent upon prostitution or adultery.
— [4]
It also banned the drinking of undiluted wine except for medical purposes.[5]
Ancient Rome
The Sumptuariae Leges of
The
Roman sumptuary laws applied to both the living and the dead. Rome's most ancient laws, the laws of the Twelve Tables, forbade extravagant expenses at funerals. This included the pouring of wine over the ashes at cremations (which seems nevertheless to have been an invariable practise), the use of smoothed timbers in funeral pyres, and "excessive" mourning.[14]
East Asia
China
Sumptuary laws existed in China in one form or another from the
Some laws concerned the size and decoration of graves and mausoleums. The
After c. 1550, sumptuary law in China was reformed. It had long been ineffective.[17] The consumption of luxuries had risen over the previous several centuries, and at the time of Industrial Revolution in Europe, Chinese consumption of luxuries such as tea, sugar, fine silk, tobacco, and eating utensils was on a par with the core regions of Europe.[17]
Japan
According to Britannica Online, "In feudal Japan, sumptuary laws were passed with a frequency and minuteness of scope that had no parallel in the history of the Western world."
Islamic world
Islamic sumptuary laws are based upon teachings found in the Quran and Hadith. Males are exhorted not to wear silk clothes, nor have jewelry made of gold. Likewise, wearing clothes or robes that drag on the ground, seen as a sign of vanity and excessive pride, is also forbidden. These rules do not apply to women, who are allowed all this, but also need to cover their bodies and hair.
Prohibition of depictions of human and animal figures in general are similar to those of the Quranic prohibition on graven images. Hadiths do allow the depiction of animals on clothing items.[20]
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Sumptuary laws issued by secular authorities, aimed at keeping the main population dressed according to their "station", do not begin until the later 13th century.[21][22] These laws were addressed to the entire social body, but the brunt of regulations was directed at women and the middle classes. Their curbing of display was ordinarily couched in religious and moralizing vocabulary, yet was affected by social and economic considerations aimed at preventing ruinous expense among the wealthy classes and the drain of capital reserves to foreign suppliers.[23]
Courtesans
Special forms of dress for
England
As early as the 12th century, certain articles of clothing were prohibited to crusaders and pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land under the
In England, which in this respect was typical of Europe, from the reign of Edward III in the Middle Ages until well into the 17th century,[3] sumptuary laws dictated what colour and type of clothing, furs, fabrics, and trims were allowed to persons of various ranks or incomes. In the case of clothing, this was intended, amongst other reasons, to reduce spending on foreign textiles and to ensure that people did not dress "above their station":
The excess of apparel and the superfluity of unnecessary foreign wares thereto belonging now of late years is grown by sufferance to such an extremity that the manifest decay of the whole realm generally is like to follow (by bringing into the realm such superfluities of silks, cloths of gold, silver, and other most vain devices of so great cost for the quantity thereof as of necessity the moneys and treasure of the realm is and must be yearly conveyed out of the same to answer the said excess) but also particularly the wasting and undoing of a great number of young gentlemen, otherwise serviceable, and others seeking by show of apparel to be esteemed as gentlemen, who, allured by the vain show of those things, do not only consume themselves, their goods, and lands which their parents left unto them, but also run into such debts and shifts as they cannot live out of danger of laws without attempting unlawful acts, whereby they are not any ways serviceable to their country as otherwise they might be
— Statute issued at Greenwich, 15 June 1574, by order of Elizabeth I[26]
The first major sumptuary act was passed in April 1463 during the reign of
A second "Act of Apparel" followed in January 1483 restricting
A 1571 Act of Parliament to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over six years of age, except for the nobility and persons of degree, were to wear woolen caps on pain of a fine of three farthings (¾ penny) per day.[30][31] This law instituted the flat cap as part of English wear.[32] The 1571 act was repealed in 1597.[33]
An extremely long list of items, specifying colour, materials, and sometimes place of manufacture (imported goods being much more tightly restricted) followed for each sex, with equally specific exceptions by rank of nobility or position held. For the most part, these laws seem to have had little effect,
The laws were justified by the reasoning that the price of certain goods increased to levels where "the treasure of the land is destroyed, to the great damage of the lords and the commonality" when "various people or various conditions wear various apparel not appropriate to their estate".[36]
Adam Smith was against the necessity or convenience of sumptuary laws, he wrote: "of It is the highest impertinence and presumption… in kings and ministers, to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense...[18] They are themselves always, and without any exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society.[18] Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs. If their own extravagance does not ruin the state, that of their subjects never will."[37]
Italy
During the Medieval and
France
The way by which our laws attempt to regulate idle and vain expenses in meat and clothes, seems to be quite contrary to the end designed… For to enact that none but princes shall eat turbot, shall wear velvet or gold lace, and interdict these things to the people, what is it but to bring them into a greater esteem, and to set every one more agog to eat and wear them?
He also cites Plato and Zaleucus.
Scotland
One of the earliest known Scottish sumptuary regulations was passed in 1429 during the reign of
Early modern era
Sumptuary laws were repealed in the early 17th century, but new
France
In 1629 and 1633, Louis XIII of France issued edicts regulating "Superfluity of Dress" that prohibited anyone but princes and the nobility from wearing gold embroidery or caps, shirts, collars, and cuffs embroidered with metallic threads or lace,[44] and puffs, slashes, and bunches of ribbon were severely restricted. As with other such laws, these were widely disregarded and enforced in a lax manner. A series of popular engravings by Abraham Bosse depicts the supposed effects of this law.[45]
Colonial America
In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a 1634 prohibition[46] 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.[47][48] By 1651, flouting of the rules caused leadership to issue a new strongly worded regulation to the populace again.[46]
Modern era
While rarely do restrictions exist on the type or quality of clothing, beyond maintenance of public decency, wearing certain types of clothing is restricted to specific occupations, specifically the uniforms of organisations like the police and military.
In some jurisdictions, clothing or other visible signs of religious or political opinion (e.g. Nazi imagery in Germany) are forbidden in certain public places.[49][50][51][52]
Many American states in the 20th century prohibited the wearing of
Proscription or requirement of native dress
Sumptuary laws have also been used to control populations by prohibiting the wearing of native dress and hairstyles, along with the proscription of other cultural customs. John Perrot, the Lord Deputy of Ireland under Elizabeth I, banned the wearing of traditional woollen mantles, "open smocks" with "great sleeves", and native headdresses, requiring the people to dress in "civil garments" in the English style.[54]
In a similar manner, the Dress Act 1746, which formed part of the Act of Proscription issued under George II following the Jacobite rising of 1745, made the wearing of Highland dress, including tartan and kilts, illegal in Scotland (an exemption was made for soldiers and veterans). The Act was eventually repealed in 1782, and during the Regency and Victorian eras, Highland dress gained widespread popularity, in part thanks to the visit of George IV to Scotland in 1822, which was organised by Scottish writer Walter Scott.[55]
In Bhutan, the wearing of traditional dress (which also has an ethnic connotation) in certain places, such as when visiting government offices, was made compulsory in 1989 under the driglam namzha laws.[56][57] Part of the traditional dress includes the kabney, a long scarf whose coloring is regulated. Only the King of Bhutan and Chief Abbot may don the saffron scarf, with various other colors reserved for government and religious officers, and white available for common people.
Pejorative uses of term
The term "sumptuary law" has been used as a
Alcohol prohibition
As early as 1860,
In 1971, a United States federal study stated that federal laws on alcohol include "sumptuary laws which are directed at the purchaser", including, "Sales are not permitted to minors or intoxicated persons. Credit is often prohibited on liquor sales, as well. Criminal penalties may be imposed for driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as for drunken behavior."[70]
Drug prohibition
When the U.S. state of
See also
References
Citations
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- ^ ISBN 978-1-85973-782-8.
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- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 951.
- ^ Austin, Alison (2000-01-17). "Dyeing in the ancient world". unc.edu. Archived from the original on 2000-01-17. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
- ^ "In Support of the Oppian Law by Cato the Censor. Rome (218 B.C.–84 A.D.). Vol. II. Bryan, William Jennings, ed. 1906. The World's Famous Orations". Bartleby. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
- ^ Elliot, Charlene D. (1 May 2003). Colour Codification: Law, Culture and the Hue of Communication (PDF) (Thesis). Ottawa, Ontario: Carleton University. pp. 62–70. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
- ISBN 0-520-23214-3.
- ^ Bradsher, Keith (26 February 2006). "From the Silk Road to the Superhighway, All Coin Leads to China". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ Smith, William; William Wayte; G. E. Marindin (1890). "Census". A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (third ed.). London: Albemarle Street. Retrieved 2006-05-25.
- ^ Lintott, Andrew, "Electoral Bribery in the Roman Republic", The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 80 (1990), pp. 1-7
- ^ Codex Theodosianus 14.10.2–3, tr. C. Pharr, "The Theodosian Code", p. 415
- ^ Erker, Darja Šterbenc, "Gender and Roman funeral ritual", pp. 40–60 in Hope, V., Huskinson, J,. (Editors), Memory and Mourning in Ancient Rome, Oxbow, 2010, pp. 41,42
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- ^ de Groot, Jan Jakob Maria (1892). The Religious System of China. Vol. II. Brill Archive. pp. 451–452.
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- ^ a b c d Ingram, John Kells (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 83–85.
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- ^ Piponnier & Mane 1997, pp. 114–41.
- ISBN 881507128-8.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Summarized very succinctly in David Jacoby, "Silk Economics and Cross-Cultural Artistic Interaction: Byzantium, the Muslim World, and the Christian West" Dumbarton Oaks Papers 58 (2004: pp. 197–240) p. 206, with references.
- ^ Piponnier & Mane 1997, pp. 139–41.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-932-3.
- ^ Statute issued at Greenwich, 15 June 1574, 16 Elizabeth I, transcribed with modernized spelling, retrieved 6 October 2007.
- ^ 1 Rich. II (1377), 13 Rich II (1389), 16 Rich. II (1392), 20 Rich. II (1396–70), 1 Hen. IV (1399), 2 Hen. VI (1400), 7 Hen. IV (1405), 8 Hen. VI (1429), 8 Edw. IV (1468), 12 Edw. IV (1472), 3. Hen VII (1487), 19 Hen. VII (1503)
- ISBN 978-1-84383-932-3.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-932-3.
- ^ Luders 1963, p. 555, "13 Eliz. c. 19: An Acte for the making of Cappes".
- OxfordDictionaries.com. Archived from the originalon January 18, 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
- OCLC 15609908– via Internet Archive.
- ^ Luders 1963, pp. 916–27, "39 Eliz. c. 18: An Acte for the reviving continuance explanacion perfecting and repealing of divers Statutes".
- ISBN 0859551903.
- ^ "Elizabethan Sumptuary Statutes". elizabethan.org. 2001-07-14. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
- ^ Louise M. Sylvester; Mark C. Chambers; and Gale R. Owen-Cocker, eds. (2014). Medieval Dress and Textiles in Britain. The Boydell Press. p. 203.[ISBN missing]
- ^ The Wealth Of Nations, Book II, Chapter III, p. 346, para. 36.
- ^ Legarini, Renato (March 2014). "L'importante e apparire: le leggi suntuarie a Siena e la loro funzione" [The important thing is to appear: the sumptuary laws in Siena and their function] (PDF). Accademia dei Rozzi (in Italian). Vol. 6. pp. 13–15.
- ISBN 978-88-581-0462-0.[page needed]
- ^ Payne, History of Costume, p. 222.[ISBN missing]
- ISBN 1-84383-203-8.
- ISBN 978-1-84383-932-3.
- ISBN 9780713469165.
- ISBN 0-486-21030-8, p. 289
- ^ Lefébure, Ernest (1888). Embroidery and Lace: Their Manufacture and History from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Day. p. 203.
- ^ a b Massachusetts; Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. (Nathaniel Bradstreet); Court, Massachusetts General (1854). Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. William White, Printer to the Commonwealth.
- ISBN 1-4039-6686-9
- ^ "Colonial Laws of Massachusetts, 1651". Constitution.org. Retrieved 2019-08-11.
- ^ Cleek, Ashley (16 March 2012). "Uzbekistan Goes After Islam with Clothing Ban and Cameras". Eurasianet. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
A 1998 law forbids Uzbeks from wearing religious clothing in public.
- ^ Hasan Aydin, University of Nevada, Reno: Headscarf (Hijab) Ban in Turkey: importance of veiling. "Turkey has implemented a ban on the use of the Hijab, or the headscarf, in state controlled areas like universities, government offices, and other public places."
- ^ Lentze, Georg (2 April 2013). "Islamic headscarf debate rekindled in France". BBC. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
Conspicuous signs of religious affiliation, including Islamic headscarves, are banned from French state schools, and full-face veils (burkas and niqabs) cannot be worn in public places.
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- ISBN 0-465-02621-4.
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{{cite report}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)(two passages) - ^ Bhutanese Refugee Support Group, Ireland and UK (21 November 2000). Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child | NGO Response to Initial State Party Report: BHUTAN (CRC/C/3/Add.60) under the Convention of the Rights of the Child (Report). p. 4. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
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Bibliography
- Luders, Alexander, ed. (1963) [1819]. The statutes of the realm : Printed by command of his majesty King George the Third, in pursuance of an address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. From original records and authentic manuscripts. Vol. 4. London. part 2.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Piponnier, Françoise; Mane, Perrine (1997). Dress in the Middle Ages. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-06906-5.
Further reading
- Brundage, James (1987). Sumptuary Laws and Prostitution in Late Medieval Italy. Amsterdam: Elsevier.[ISBN missing]
- Dubos, Paul (1888). Droit romain, le luxe et les lois somptuaires: économie politique de l'influence du luxe sur la répartition des richesses. Paris: Université de France, Faculté de droit de Paris. (2014 reprint. Hachette: Paris. ISBN 978-2013478199.)
- Garlet, Tamara (2007). Le contrôle de l'apparence vestimentaire à Lausanne d'après les lois somptuaires bernoises et les registres du Consistoire de la Ville (1675–1706). University of Lausanne. www.rero.ch [ISBN missing]
- Hayward, Maria (2009). Rich Apparel: Clothing and the Law in Henry VIII's England. Farnham: Ashgate.[ISBN missing]
- Killerby, Catherine (2002). Sumptuary Law in Italy: 1200–1500. New York: Oxford University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Miles, Deri Pode (1987). Forbidden Pleasures: Sumptuary Laws and the Ideology of Decline in Ancient Rome. University of London Press.[ISBN missing]
- Panizza, Letizia (2000). Women in Italian Renaissance Society. Oxford: European Humanities Research Centre. [ISBN missing]
- Zanda, Emanuela (2011). Fighting Hydra-Like Luxury: Sumptuary Laws in the Roman Republic. London: Bristol Classical Press.[ISBN missing]