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An exception to the rule is simply something which goes against the norm (rule). For instance, there is a rule in English:

I before E except after C,

or when used as an A, as in neighbour or weigh.

That is the rule. Exceptions are: weird or Rottweiler. They don't follow any of the rules.

In other words, exceptions to the rules are things which happen or occur when they shouldn't.

Planets in our solar system follow circular orbits except Pluto, which is elliptical. The planets rotate in an easterly direction except for Venus and Uranus, which rotate in the opposite direction. (So does Pluto, but it's not a planet anymore. The planets also rotate with 'north' pointing up except for Venus, which is upside-down, and Uranus, which is lying on its side. (Pluto lies on its side, too.)

There is rarely a rule which doesn't have exceptions, or things which simply don't follow the rules.

Exception To The Rule

"The exception [that] proves the rule" is a frequently confused English idiom. The original meaning of this idiom is that the presence of an exception applying to a specific case establishes that a general rule existed.

Henry Watson Fowler's Modern English Usage provided an early critical analysis of the confused use of this phrase, and many more recent style guides repeat Fowler's criticism.

Original meaning

The phrase is derived from the medieval Latin legal principle exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis ("the exception confirms the rule in cases not excepted"), a concept first proposed by Cicero in his defense of Lucius Cornelius Balbus.[1] This means a stated exception implies the existence of a rule to which it is the exception. The second part of Cicero's phrase, "in casibus non exceptis" or "in cases not excepted," is almost always missing from modern uses of the statement that "the exception proves the rule," which may contribute to frequent confusion and misuse of the phrase.

Fowler's Modern English Usage gives the following example of the original meaning:

Special leave is given for men to be out of barracks tonight till 11.00 p.m.; "The exception proves the rule" means that this special leave implies a rule requiring men, except when an exception is made, to be in earlier. The value of this in interpreting statutes is plain.

In other words, a legal exception implies that something is normally not excluded.

For another example, stating that emergency vehicles may exceed the speed limit carries the implicature that other vehicles may not do so, even if the latter is not explicitly stated. Similarly, a sign that says "parking prohibited on Sundays" (the exception) "proves" that parking is allowed on the other six days of the week (the rule).

The phrase may also be invoked to claim the existence of a rule that usually applies, when a case to which it does not apply is specially mentioned. For example, the fact that a nurse is described as "male" (the exception) could be taken as evidence that most nurses are female (the rule). This is a slightly looser interpretation of the original meaning.

http://www.answers.com/topic/exception-that-proves...

An exception to the rule is where a rule does not apply to a special, rare, or unique circumstance.

Let's take a classic spelling rule:

I before E except after C

So we know that it is fiend and friend and not "feind" and "freind"

And we know it is receive and perceive rather than "recieve" or "percieve"

But then words where the combination make the long A sound is an exception to the rule.

weigh, neighbor, freight

So those words are exceptions to the rule.

Zebra's are black and white, that's the rule. But sometimes a totally white zebra is born, that's the exception to the rule

i'll try.....it means follow the rules but dont go to far past them.....uhhmm the speed limit is 50 but i was doing 58 because i was overtaking and i didn't see the car coming the other way so i had to speed up.....thats what the judge described as an exeption to the rule, so i got let off my speeding,