(noun) A custom or practice of a society or community.
"The government is indeed an institution, but "the market" is nothing more than an option for each individual to chose among numerous existing institutions, or to fashion new arrangements suited to his own situation and taste."
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind."
"We should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive."
"Great corporations exist only because they are created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is therefore our right and duty to see that they work in harmony with these institutions."
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
"Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge."