7.5. 5. In what Cases sumptuary Laws are useful in a Monarchy.
Whether it was from a republican spirit, or from. some other
particular circumstance, sumptuary laws were made in Aragon, in the
middle of the thirteenth century. James the First ordained that neither
the king nor any of his subjects should have above two sorts of dishes
at a meal, and that each dish should be dressed only one way, except it
were game of their own killing.
[11]
In our days, sumptuary laws have been also enacted in Sweden; but
with a different view from those of Aragon.
A government may make sumptuary laws with a view to absolute
frugality; this is the spirit of sumptuary laws in republics; and the
very nature of the thing shows that such was the design of those of
Aragon.
Sumptuary laws may likewise be established with a design to promote
a relative frugality: when a government, perceiving that foreign
merchandise, being at too high a price, will require such an exportation
of home manufactures as to deprive them of more advantages by the loss
of the latter than they can receive from the possession of the former,
they will forbid their being introduced. And this is the spirit of the
laws which in our days have been passed in Sweden.
[12]
Such are the sumptuary laws proper for monarchies.
In general, the poorer a state, the more it is ruined by its
relative luxury; and consequently the more occasion it has for relative
sumptuary laws. The richer a state, the more it thrives by its relative
luxury; for which reason it must take particular care not to make any
relative sumptuary laws. This we shall better explain in the book on commerce;
[13]
here we treat only of absolute luxury.
Footnotes
[11]
Constitution of James I in the year 1234, art. 6, in "Marca Hispanica," p. 1429.
[12]
They have prohibited rich wines and other costly merchandise.
[13]
Lettres persanes, 106. See below, xx. 20.
