Diving into Exceptions in Legal Definitions: All You Need to Know

A Definitive Intro into Legal Exceptions

Exceptions are standard in legal dealings. Contracting parties often recognize the possibility that not everything in life will go according to plan. As a result, legal documents typically include exceptions to deal with these contingencies. Though exceptions can be confusing – and may even seem contradictory to the plain text of an agreement – they are designed to provide specific guidance in the event of circumstances beyond the party’s control.
In general terms, a legal exception is a clause that defines the specific circumstances in which a general rule does not apply. For example, a contract may contain a warranty clause stating that a product will perform a certain way, and identify the expected performance. In this context, the exception may expressly state that the warrantor will not be liable for any damages resulting from the failure of other components of the system in which the product is used.
Exceptions may be considered similar to raccoon dogs, the Japanese animals whose name is derived from their appearance: they look like raccoons (alternatively, dogs) with ‘something else’ happening. Exceptions are the ‘something else’ that modifies a broader rule about a given aspect of a contract. The purpose of an exception clause is to exclude unexpected outcomes that would be considered by the relevant authority in interpreting a document but are not intended to be included as part of that interpretation.
Consider the following analogy. Often, a person will develop a long-term financial plan , based on their expectation of continued good fortune, and including a few yellow flags about possible adverse economic impacts. However, good planning anticipates unexpected impediments, and makes room for them. An exception is like incorporating into your plan a clause that exempts your financial reserves from being drawn upon in the event of a major medical issue. The exception builds in protection against the surprise, and takes it out of the general calculations of wealth. The same logic applies within legal documents, where a general limitation is "whittled down" and defined by an exception that seems to qualify it, but instead is designed to protect the general application from specific circumstances.
In the example provided here, the clause states that the warrantor for the product will not be liable for any adverse effects of the use of the product. What appears, at first, to contradict the warranty literally is an exception, specified to exclude from the general rule the fact of other component failures. Not only does the warranty apply, but it also is limited to the compensable impacts of the failure of the product for which the warrantor is providing the warranty.
Legal exceptions are not always clearly expressed. However, when they are, you can understand them as exemptions to the general rule. They exist to protect the welfare of the protected party, allowing it to avoid being held to a warranty that otherwise might be interpreted to include liability for any impact to other aspects of a system.

What are the Different Types of Legal Exceptions?

Types of Exceptions in the Law
Just as exceptions can be found in a proverbial rule, different kinds of exceptions exist in law. The most commonly known types are statutory exceptions, common law exceptions, and contractual exceptions.
A statutory exception to a general legal proposition is one that is established by state or federal statute. A frequently-cited example is found in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which provides that white collar employees are exempt from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements when they satisfy a series of criteria defined by the FLSA. Since there may be distinctions between the federal and state approach on many issues, employers must consult with relevant state law to ensure compliance with both the federal and state wage-hour laws.
Common law exceptions include those established by court decisions, such as the Economic Realities Test, which is often used to determine coverage under the FLSA. The U.S. Department of Labor also incorporates elements of the economic realities test into its regulations and the regulations of several states. Like statutory exceptions, common law exceptions are also subject to change at the whim of the courts. Thus, as with other aspects of the law, alleged violations of legal exceptions should be promptly addressed and seriously considered, with the guidance of competent legal counsel.
Contractual exceptions, on the other hand, are created through the execution of a contract between two or more parties. Of particular relevance within the employment context, both employers and individual employees frequently enter into settlements in an attempt to resolve disputes or alleged violations without litigation. Most settlement agreements contain a release in which the parties agree to forgo certain litigation, or at the very least dismiss with prejudice any actions currently pending or projected. Exceptions typically fall into two broad categories: general exceptions and specific exceptions. General exceptions give a party the ability to pursue indemnification, scientific, criminal or administrative investigations where the facts and evidence underlying the investigation are not known to the party at the time of the signing and may result in a judgment such as an administrative fine or civil or criminal penalty. Specific exceptions are those that give a party the ability to pursue an existing or expected claim against the other party- while for general exceptions the result might be unknown, specific exceptions target known or anticipated claims. It is important to note, however, that most releases are narrowly fashioned by law and may significantly restrict the ability of a party to pursue a known or anticipated legal claim.

The Importance of Legal Exceptions

Beyond merely extending or broadening the scope of a definition, the consequence of which could wind up being much broader than one expects, the legal significance of exceptions must not be lost. For the attorney counseling a client in the application of a law, the exception is absolutely critical. The exception defines the outer reaches of a law and sets the expectations of the court in the application of that law to the facts at issue. If the counselor has disregarded the exception, then the risk of a finding against a client needs to be pointed out at the outset. The client needs to appreciate the risk of an unexpected outcome, even if counsel is optimistic about the result. In contrast, if the exception points more toward a favorable finding for the client, counsel needs to prepare the client to expect a favorable outcome. Understanding the exception – its purpose and utility – will allow any attorney to broaden their knowledge and understanding.

Common Situations that Involve Legal Exceptions

Legal exceptions make appearances in numerous areas of the law, impacting people’s lives in most areas. It’s essential to be aware of the limitations imposed on your legal rights by various exceptions, including:

• Exemptions in employment law: Employment law sometimes features exceptions on statutes that could otherwise require employers to pay employees differently. For example, some employees may not be entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act in certain situations, such as those requiring them to manage or be in charge of a facility, like a restaurant or hospital, at least 80 hours every two weeks. The law dictates that these employees working on a salary basis and performing exempt duties should not receive overtime regardless of the number of hours worked.
• Privacy laws: Maybe the best-known example of exceptions to privacy laws are the "freedom of information" exemptions. Under U.S. law, when a federal agency receives a request for documents pertaining to its actions, it has to disclose all the records for those documents, unless an exception applies. Some of the key reasons government agencies may claim an exception are national security concerns, classified information, and ongoing law enforcement proceedings. In these cases, those submitting requests can ask for an administrative appeal and/or file a complaint in court to see if a judge will rule the law enforcement exception should not apply.
• Criminal defenses: A variety of criminal defenses exist with exceptions, such as "innocent mistake" or "insanity." However, because a common example of this is the "safe, sure, and reasonable" exception to the warrant requirement, it’s worth explaining more about this particular situation. In some instances, police may be permitted to conduct a search without a warrant, due to evidence being in plain view (i.e., officers who reach their hands into a car glove compartment to grab a gun). This means the suspect being searched or arrested cannot claim a constitutional violation related to the Fourth Amendment. Additionally, in some places rules presuming guilt if searching a home without a warrant could help a suspect prove he or she didn’t knowingly break the law, due to the infamous rule of Felix Frankfurter, who once stated "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." In these cases, ignorance becomes a reasonable justification for the action if the defendant can show he or she didn’t know the police would not be authorized to search without a warrant.

Difficulties and Controversies

Challenges and controversies in interpretation and application often surround legal exceptions. The very nature of a "legal exception" implies a departure from the rule or norm, which can, in turn, produce significant cases in the legal systems of the world. The purpose of the rule, which is typically codified in an international treaty or national law, is useful only if the rule’s exceptions are strictly followed. Parsing "exceptions" to a crucial legal norm can cause problems in the due processes of order and justice.
The controversy with exceptions is creating harmonious legal treatment out of divergent social, cultural, historical, or religious contexts across sovereign states. If states do not base each instrument containing "exceptions" on the same fundamental concept, confusion will be the result, and subsequently enforcement or compliance cannot be guaranteed if the actions carried out under the exceptions are interpreted differently by states. Interpretation exists because, although legal human rights may share a common definition under international law, these meanings change in the context of legal pluralism at the national level. This can become disjointed when states do not embody the concept of "legal exception" within their domestic law .
For example, whereas discrimination is commonly defined under international law as any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference made on the basis of race, color, sex, language, religion, birth, or other status, gender in certain contexts remains an exception to this common definition under Islamic law, which holds a limited view of gender to the extent that women are deemed as equal to men only as long as such equality is harmonious with their identity as wife and mother. Thus, exceptions within exceptions are born, as legal pluralism raises the question whether a codified norm in international law is sufficient grounds for omitting all local traditions or culture. While some would argue that a modern legal norm containing exceptions to the norm creates vague boundaries defining the enforcement scope of the exception, others may argue that a clarification of context to the law is needed to achieve contextual harmonization.
Then there is the European Court of Human Rights, which has opined that it is not its prerogative to review national laws to determine their compliance with the Convention. In most respect, states have exclusive authority over regulatory functions within their borders, and intervention by the European Court was meant to be limited. In the face of its mission to uphold and protect human rights, the court has decided to intervene in matters to improve state practice and standards for all European states. The court has, however, been criticized for its uniform approach on "exceptions," specifically regarding the use of political social norms and religious codes which are sometimes not accepted in other parts of Europe.

Examples of Legal Exceptions

In an infamous case, the United States Supreme Court had to determine whether a particular constitutional right (‘the right to bear arms’) fell within a specific exception to the long-standing prohibition against carrying firearms on school grounds. And in a somewhat lesser-known case, the United States Court of Appeals found that a church could be well within its right to carry out certain religious activities on federal government property, based on the definitions and exceptions for ‘historic churches’ property in the National Park Service Land Management Policy.
To better understand how exceptions operate in real-life legal contexts, however, here are two case studies of different real-life legal applications of ‘exceptions’:
When the Federal Bureau of Imprisonment enacted Federal Bureau of Prisons 28, U.S.C. § 1915(a), 20 C.F.R. § 416.1545(e); 416.164 (b)(2)(iii), under which it was legally required to automatically deny requests for Social Security benefits if the individual was currently imprisoned due to a felony conviction, the United States Supreme Court was forced to clarify the Constitutional scope of the Tennessee law under which it had been initially based. While the initial trial court found in favor of the State of Tennessee, the Supreme Court later determined that it was too narrow for the particular case. Notably, the justices were forced to weigh the constitutional right to bear arms against the specific implications of this particular exception, which they ultimately ruled did not technically apply in this particular circumstance, allowing for the recovery of the benefits.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that the establishment of National Park Service Monument 32 USC 100501(a)(1) does not render state Section 126 of the Maryland Constitution under Federal 40 U.S.C. § 8906 not applicable in this case, under the Definition of "historic churches" in 36 C.F.R. § 800.16(y).

Conclusion: Understanding Legal Exceptions

As we’ve outlined, the purpose of a definition is to clearly and concisely provide a point of reference for the application of words or phrases in other contexts. However, the moment "except" or other words describing situations outside the ordinary interpretation are applied , things get a little more complicated and proving the exception is up to the practitioner. Only then can the practitioners help their clients navigate the exceptions appropriately and in a timely fashion. Therefore, it is imperative for practitioners to be well versed in thoroughly drafting definitions, confidently interpret existing definitions and apply them correctly.