Word: customs
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...statute books-an outgrowth of the Afrikaners' urge to codify. A prominent member of a South African foundation declares with an almost palpable wink: "We could strip apartheid legislation from the books and yet nothing need change. We could accomplish all the same things by local regulations or custom...
...College, is the way some would-be students endorsed by legislators get into professional schools-at least those schools heavily supported by the state. Normally, no one is the wiser, but this month a federal trial in Philadelphia threw unexpected light on what apparently has been a time-honored custom. Herbert Fineman, 56, the powerful speaker of Pennsylvania's house of representatives, was found guilty of obstructing justice during a U.S. probe into admissions practices of Philadelphia's medical and graduate schools...
Contemporary chronicles testify to Vlad's many ingenious cruelties. When envoys from the Turkish Sultan refused to remove their turbans in Vlad's presence on the ground that this was not their custom, Vlad replied: "I would like to reinforce your custom." He thereupon ordered the turbans nailed to the Turks' heads. Vlad once gathered a "multitude" of sick and poor citizens in a castle, then bolted the doors and burned them alive so "there should be no more poor in my realm, leaving only the rich...
...Both catacombs feature memorial stones carved with Greek or Latin inscriptions (Hebrew was apparently reserved for religious rites). Reads one: "Here lies Pe-gaianos, the scribe and lover of the Law." Both catacombs are relatively well preserved, "thanks to the Vatican," says Rabbi Toaff. And thanks to the Jewish custom of not burying precious objects with the dead. Knowing that fact, vandals of the Middle Ages paid less attention to Jewish tombs than to those of wealthy pagans and Christians...
...comparisons of countries were offered in the report. It is not easy to choose between South Korea's assumption that a defendant is guilty until proved innocent and Saudi Arabia's custom of severing a thief's hand after three convictions. And there is little to be gained by comparing Israel's use of detention without trial in the occupied Arab territories with Egypt's control of the major news media...