code: private AbstractType<?> getKeyValidator(ColumnFamily columnFamily) {
          // this is a fix to support backward compatibility
          // which allows to skip the current key validator
          // please, take a look onto CASSANDRA-7498 for more details
          if ("true".equals(System.getProperty("skip.key.validator", "false"))) {
              return BytesType.instance;
          }
          return columnFamily.metadata().getKeyValidator();
      }
docs: Get key validator for column family
  @param columnFamily column family instance
  @return key validator for given column family