sumptuary law

Any law restraining excessive individual consumption, such as expenditure on food and dress, or attempting to control religious or moral conduct.

The Romans had several sumptuary laws; for example, the lex Orchia in 181 BC limited the number of dishes at a feast. In England sumptuary laws were introduced by Edward III and Henry VII.

In Japan before the modern era, sumptuary laws were detailed, both prohibiting the farmers and merchants from the use of certain materials (such as silk) and restricting the consumption of the nobles and samurai (for example, specifying the maximum number of palanquins at a wedding). One government, around 1800, went so far as to decree that people below a certain income must not buy anything new at all, and that women must dress their own hair.