Definition
A Latin term used in old conveyancing meaning "excepting" or "excepted." EXCEPTIS appeared as a operative word in deeds to carve out specific property, rights, or interests from the scope of a grant. Where a grantor wished to transfer land while retaining or excluding particular portions, this word signaled the formal exception to the conveyance.
The phrase EXCEPTIS PRÆ-EXCEPTIS — meaning "excepting what was before excepted" or "except as above excepted" — was a formulaic conveyancing expression used to incorporate by reference any exceptions already recited earlier in the same instrument, avoiding the need to restate them in full at each operative clause.
Common Confusion
EXCEPTIS should not be confused with RESERVATIS or similar Latin terms signaling a reservation. An exception removes something from the grant entirely — it never passes to the grantee — while a reservation creates a new right retained by the grantor out of something that would otherwise pass. The distinction matters in historical deed interpretation: courts treated the two differently in determining title and the scope of the grantor's retained interest.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working with pre-modern English deeds, early American land records, or colonial conveyancing instruments will encounter EXCEPTIS as part of standard Latin formula. Several practical points apply:
First, the term appears most heavily in pre-18th century instruments. As English conveyancing modernized and plain-language drafting became more common, Latin operative words like EXCEPTIS were replaced by English equivalents ("except," "excepting always"). If a researcher is analyzing whether property passed under a historical deed, locating and correctly translating EXCEPTIS is essential to identifying what the grantor meant to withhold.
Second, EXCEPTIS PRÆ-EXCEPTIS functions as an internal cross-reference within a single instrument. Where this phrase appears, the researcher must look backward through the deed for earlier exception clauses — failing to do so will produce an incomplete picture of what actually transferred.
Third, because EXCEPTIS operates as a term of art identifying the structural mechanism of an exception (as opposed to a reservation, a condition, or a covenant), it connects to a body of interpretive doctrine about how courts construed exceptions in deeds. Historical cases sometimes turned on whether particular language created an exception or a reservation, with different consequences for title.
Fourth, this term is most relevant to researchers working in English and early American land law. It will appear less frequently — or not at all — in civil law jurisdictions, where conveyancing traditions and Latin formula differ.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the foundational entry: EXCEPTIS is defined as a Latin term of old conveyancing, identifying it as "one of the apt words for denoting an exception in a deed." Burrill cites Townshend's Pleadings for the phrase EXCEPTIS PRÆ-EXCEPTIS, grounding the term in treatise authority.
Burrill's treatment is characteristically compressed. It establishes the term's function and provides the key compound phrase but does not elaborate on how courts distinguished exceptions from reservations, or how the doctrine evolved as Latin conveyancing receded. Researchers should not rely on Burrill alone for the interpretive history; supplementary sources on deed construction doctrine will be necessary.
No other Law Mind shelf sources provide an independent entry for EXCEPTIS, leaving Burrill as the sole historical dictionary authority on this term.
Jurisdictional Note
EXCEPTIS is a term of English conveyancing origin and will appear primarily in English and early American land records. Jurisdictions that received English common law conveyancing traditions — particularly the American states with colonial-era land grants — are the most likely contexts for encountering this term in primary source research.