[blml] Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[Nigel]

[At 16:16 4/05/2007 +0100, Nigel (allegedly) wrote]

> The true origin of the phrase
> lies in a medieval Latin legal
> principle: exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis, which
> may be translated as "the exception confirms the rule in the cases
> not excepted".
>
]Alain Gottcheiner]
I'm sorry, Sir; this is simply not true. Check for example at : 
http://www.alanemrich.com/Class/Class_Practical_Latin.htm 
<http://www.alanemrich.com/Class/Class_Practical_Latin.htm>http://seaflower.deviantart.com/ 
<http://seaflower.deviantart.com/>And you'll find the original sense, 
which dates back to Antiquity : "an exception tests the rule". A sort of 
pre-Popperian falsifiability principle, so to speak. What has been done 
of it thereafter is another story. Regards   Alain

[nigel]
You flatter me Alain :)
I didn't write that -- but it makes sense to me :)
...Richard Hills wrote that :)
......And he was quoting Michael Quinion :)
.........Who, in turn, was quoting - inter alia - H W Fowler :)
............But even Alain's own source translates it as :)
...............The exception *confirms* the rule :)

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-exc1.htm