Sumptuary, << SUHMP chu `ehr` ee, >> law. The word sumptuary comes from a Latin word which means expenditure. In ancient Greece and Rome, laws limited the amount of money that anyone could spend on private luxuries. Laws of this kind were called sumptuary laws.
Similar laws have been common at various times in England, France, Scotland, Spain, and Italy. From the days of Edward III (1327-1377) until the Reformation in the early 1500’s, the English Parliament restricted the number of courses of a meal to two, except on holidays. It also regulated the amount that members of each class of society could spend on clothes.
