EXCEPTION (Lat. exeeptio, from cxcipere, to except, from ex, out + (were, to take). In law: t a ) A taking out or excluding something from the operation or effect of an instrument, statement. or the like. (b) Au objection legally taken to testimony or other material matter in a legal proceeding. (c) The clause, writing, or statement by which either of these objects is accomplished; also the thing excepted or ex cepted to. When applied to a clause in a deed it means a provision that exempts something from the grant; as where the deed conveys a certain farm with the exception of a described piece of land or a designated building or tree. (Compare 11EsEtwanox.) An exception in a statute ex empts a person or thing -from the operation of tne enactment : and it is a rule of pleading in a criminal prosecution or in a civil suit for pen alties under such a statute, that the indictment or complaint must negative the exception; that is, deny that the defendant or the alleged crim inal act comes within the exception. In ad
miralty and equity practice, the term is applied to the proper method of bringing before the court an objection to the regularity or sufficiency of a pleading or proceeding. In this sense, an excep tion partakes of the nature of a pleading. per forming the function of a special demurrer at common law.
The term is employed most frequently, how ever, in common-law actions to describe the formal signification of a party's objection to an adverse ruling of the court upon some point of law. It must be taken at the time of the ruling. or within a prescribed period thereafter, and should he entered upon the court's record, so that a proper bill of exceptions (q.v.) may be pre pared for a review of the ease by an appellate court. Consult the authorities referred to under