1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next seven sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

"The third feature distinguishing social rules from habits is implicit in what has already been said, but it is one so important and so frequently disregarded or misrepresented in jurisprudence that we shall elaborate it here. It is a feature which throughout this book we shall call the internal aspect of rules. When a habit is general in a social group, this generality is merely a fact about the observable behavior of most of the group. In order that there should be such a habit no members of the group need in any way think of the general behavior, or even know that the behavior in question is general; still less need they strive to teach or intend to maintain it. It is enough that each for his part behaves in the way that others also in fact do. By contrast, if a social rule is to exist some at least must look upon the behavior in question as a general standard to be followed by the group as a whole. A social rule has an 'internal' aspect, in addition to the external aspect which it shares with a social habit and which consists in the regular uniform behavior which an observer could record."
- H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law

My professor says of this book that when the back cover claims it is "probably the most important work of legal philosophy produced this [twentieth] century," it isn't kidding. Or exaggerating. Or whatever. It is also indicative of what I've been reading that I think this book is easy compared to most readings.