Edict on Maximum Prices

The Edict on Maximum Prices, known in Latin as the Edictum de Pretiis Rerum Venalium, was a decree issued in 301 CE by the Roman emperor Diocletian to combat severe inflation across the empire after centuries of currency debasement. The edict reformed the coinage system by adjusting the values of various Roman coins, and it set price ceilings on well over a thousand goods and services, including foodstuffs such as beef and wine, clothing, shipping fees and worker wages. Enforcement was harsh: the edict imposed capital punishment on those found profiteering or speculating, prohibited merchants from moving goods to sell them at higher prices elsewhere, and barred transportation costs from being used to justify price increases. It stands as one of the most comprehensive price-control measures of the ancient world, and survives today only in fragments recovered from sites across the eastern Mediterranean.