An exception is an objection taken to a decision of the court upon a matter of law.
§ 25-1138.Exception, defined.
Article 11: Trial · Not amended since original codification · Last verified July 22, 2026
In one sentenceThis section defines an “exception” as a formal objection to a court’s ruling on a question of law, the term Nebraska law has long used for preserving legal errors for later review.
Full Text of § 25-1138
Source
R.S.1867, Code § 307, p. 445; R.S.1913, § 7876; C.S.1922, § 8821; C.S.1929, § 20-1138; R.S.1943, § 25-1138.
Plain-English Summary
Nebraska’s procedure statutes still carry language from an older era of practice, and “exception” is one of those inherited terms. Section 25-1138 gives it a precise meaning: an exception is an objection taken to a decision of the court on a matter of law. It is not a general complaint about how a trial went — it targets a specific legal ruling the judge made.
The distinction matters because later sections in this article build on it. Whether a party has to formally state an exception, and what happens if they do not, depends on this definition marking out what counts as an exception in the first place. Read alongside § 25-1139, which removes the old requirement that a litigant voice or record an exception to preserve it, this section supplies the vocabulary the rest of the article relies on.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “exception” mean in Nebraska civil procedure?
It means an objection to a decision the court made on a matter of law, as opposed to a general complaint about the proceedings.
Is an exception the same thing as an objection to evidence?
An objection to evidence can become the basis for an exception once the court rules on it. The exception is the objection to the court’s legal ruling itself, not the underlying evidentiary dispute.
Why does Nebraska law still define this older term?
Later sections in this article, including § 25-1139, use the term to describe when and how a litigant preserves a legal error for appeal, so the definition keeps that language consistent.
Do I need to say “I except” out loud in court to preserve an issue?
Section 25-1138 only defines the term. Section 25-1139 addresses whether a litigant must voice or record an exception to preserve their rights.
Does this section apply only to jury trials?
No. It defines an exception as an objection to a legal ruling by the court, a concept that applies across the kinds of proceedings covered in this article.
Source & verification. Section text and the amendment-history citation are
reproduced verbatim from the Nebraska Legislature, Revisor of Statutes, enacted by the
Nebraska Legislature. Last verified July 22, 2026. ·
Official source
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