Rule 46.Exceptions Unnecessary

Rule 46 is one sentence and it removes a trap that used to end appeals.

Under the older practice a party who lost a ruling had to note a formal exception on the record, and failing to do so forfeited the point however clearly it had been argued. Rule 46 provides that formal exceptions to rulings or orders are unnecessary in cases where a stenographer is present or a recording is made.

What is required instead is that a party, at the time the ruling or order is made or sought, makes known to the court either the action the party desires the court to take, or the party's objection to the action of the court and the grounds for it. Both halves matter: naming the objection without the grounds is not what the rule asks for.

The closing clause covers the case where there was no chance to speak: if a party has no opportunity to object to a ruling or order at the time it is made, the absence of an objection does not thereafter prejudice that party.

Note the condition at the front. The rule operates in cases where a stenographer is present or a recording is made — which connects it to Rule 43(c) on reporting excluded evidence and to Rule 52(a), where findings on written motion depend on a stenographer appointed under Rule 202 or an electronic recording.