something reserved, or set aside, and not included in a rule.

It is become proverbial, that there is no rule without an exception; intimating that it is impossible to comprehend all the particular cases, under one and the same maxim. But it is dangerous following the exception preferably to the rule.

in Law, denotes a stop or stay to an action; and is either dilatory or peremptory, in proceedings at common law; but in chancery it is what the plaintiff alleges against the sufficiency of an answer, &c.

An exception is no more than the denial of what is taken to be good by the other party, either in point of law or pleading. The counsel in a cause are to take all their exceptions to the record at one time, and before the court has delivered any opinion of it.