sumptuary law

noun

a law regulating personal habits that offend the moral or religious beliefs of the community.
a law regulating personal expenditures designed to restrain extravagance, especially in food and dress.

sumptuary law

(formerly) a law imposing restraint on luxury, esp by limiting personal expenditure or by regulating personal conduct in religious and moral spheres

First recorded in 1590–1600

The sumptuary law for burying the dead in woollen, still occupies its place in their statute book.

Mr. Holmes justly remarks: "This sumptuary law, for the matter and style, is a curiosity."

He was very strict in his superintendence of the public morals, and passed a sumptuary law to restrain extravagance.

Such an arrangement partakes of all the vice of a sumptuary law, and sumptuary laws are in their very essence mistakes.

Surely there should be a sumptuary law compelling pastry-cooks to deal in cellars or behind drawn blinds.

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