/ · 1894 Brewer’s · E · Exceptions prove the Rule
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They prove there is a rule, or there could be no exceptions; the very fact of exceptions proves there must be a rule.
“Exceptio probat regulam.”—Columella.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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