In Roman law, a legal defense or plea that allows a defendant to avoid an obligation; a formal objection in law.
Direct Latin term 'exceptio' meaning exception or objection. Used in Roman legal practice for formal defenses, borrowed wholesale into English legal terminology.
Roman law still shapes modern legal systems—'exceptio' was so powerful that it could completely overturn a claim even when technically valid, giving birth to our modern 'exceptions prove the rule.'
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