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"The exception that proves the rule"

6 Comments -

1 – 6 of 6
OpenID toobrightlights said...

Nope. Legal maxim. See Cicero's defense of Bilbo.

If an exception to a rule under law is stated, there implicitly can be no others. Therefor the exception proves or demonstrates that the rule (law) is absolute, by defining its entire boundary.

4/7/12, 9:04 AM

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is an exception TO the rule, however.

6/29/12, 6:23 PM

Blogger Anthony said...

toobrightlights isn't quite correct.

The phrase means that "when there's an exception, there's a rule". If there's a sign reading "no right turn on red", that means that generally, right turn on red is allowed.

2/8/13, 4:31 PM

Anonymous M. Tullius Cicero said...

See Cicero's defense of Bilbo.

You idiot, Cicero isn't in Tolkien. Presumably you mean the speech Pro Balbo. Just as a word of advice, people who aren't idiots convert Latin names into the nominative case when using them in English.

Verbum sapienti, stultissime. (That's Latin for "just sayiin', nimrod".)

2/23/14, 2:59 PM

Blogger Steven said...

"Germans haven't much of a sense of humor" is false. I'm not German by the way. I've just known Germans and been to Germany and I've encountered a good, quirky, dry sense of humour quite often. I don't know why this myth is so popular. One hears that stereotypes are usually based on truth but I don't think this one is. Not now anyway.

3/20/14, 4:21 PM

Blogger Jupiter said...

Prove is used in the sense of "test". This is an old usage, still found in "proving ground". Compare the Spanish, probar, to try or test.

5/8/15, 5:09 PM

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