\Ex*cep"tion\, n. [L. exceptio: cf. F. exception.]
1. The act of excepting or excluding; exclusion; restriction
   by taking out something which would otherwise be included,
   as in a class, statement, rule.
2. That which is excepted or taken out from others; a person,
   thing, or case, specified as distinct, or not included;
   as, almost every general rule has its exceptions.
         Such rare exceptions, shining in the dark, Prove,
         rather than impeach, the just remark. --Cowper.
Note: Often with to.
            That proud exception to all nature's laws.
                                               --Pope.
3. (Law) An objection, oral or written, taken, in the course
   of an action, as to bail or security; or as to the
   decision of a judge, in the course of a trail, or in his
   charge to a jury; or as to lapse of time, or scandal,
   impertinence, or insufficiency in a pleading; also, as in
   conveyancing, a clause by which the grantor excepts
   something before granted. --Burrill.
4. An objection; cavil; dissent; disapprobation; offense;
   cause of offense; -- usually followed by to or against.
         I will never answer what exceptions they can have
         against our account [relation].       --Bentley.
         He . . . took exception to the place of their
         burial.                               --Bacon.
         She takes exceptions at your person.  --Shak.
{Bill of exceptions} (Law), a statement of exceptions to the
   decision, or instructions of a judge in the trial of a
   cause, made for the purpose of putting the points decided
   on record so as to bring them before a superior court or
   the full bench for review.