exception proves the rule, the

Although something may not conform to it, the general rule is still valid. This term originated in the 1500s and is con- sidered a proverb. Playwright Thomas Heywood used it in The Rape of Lucrece

(1608), “If the general rule have no exceptions, thou wilt have an empty con- sistory.” However, in  the  1800s  several  scholars  maintained  that “proves” in this phrase actually means “tests” (and not “verifies”). Whichever is intended, the  phrase  is  still  used, as  in “Jane  was  the  only  woman  who  opposed  this measure; well, the exception proves the rule.”