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There's a recurring discussion on the list about the mechanism for existing Jewish practice being a source for ongoing psak halacha. In view of which I thought it useful to share an essay by R Hutner in Pachad Yitzchak on Chanuka, maamar 14. He posits that
there are two distinct drivers of the obligation to maintain any given takana - the status of the beis din concerned and the extent to which Klal Yisrael accepts and keeps the takana. Each works independently<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">.</span></div>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">However there's an important distinction in the mechanism by which each works. The beis din's takana works through da'as, ie the conscious decision to enact a practice.
In contradistinction, acceptance of any given practice by klal yisrael works specifically without da'as, meaning that there has to be no conscious decision to change or institute a practice. Only when a practice is becomes widespread without any conscious
decision by the community do we invoke 'im lo nevi'im, bnei nevi'im heim' to say the practice in question has obligatory force as a minhag. A conscious decision to implement a practice would remove that force.</span></div>
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There is of course much to add about the dynamics of this, after all this is R Hutner, see the essay for details.<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0); font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> But I thought the above would add to previous discussions. </span></div>
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