Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilbo1967
A good thought and an interesting phrase, but, unfortunately, not the correct one in this instance.
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Checking, I find it's rather older than the 18th Century!
"The phrase is derived from a legal principle of republican Rome:
exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis ("the exception confirms the rule in cases not excepted"), a concept first proposed by Cicero in his defence of Lucius Cornelius Balbus"
Hmm... I'm puzzled, which is sort of the idea.
