' EXC 
, EXC 
nation coming from the place of a planet 
in its orbit, falls thereon with right angles. 
EXCENTRICITY, in astronomy, is the 
distance of the centre of the orbit of a pla- 
net from the centre of the sun, that is, the 
distance between the centre of the ellipsis 
and the focus. See Astronomy table. 
EXCEPTION to evidence, at common 
law, is the same as a bill of exceptions, which 
is a formal exception made in writing, to be 
signed by the judge, when any evidence is 
improperly refused or received, and is a re- 
cord of such matter, which the judge is 
afterwards called upon to acknowledge in 
court, and then being made part of the re- 
cord, it is argued in the same manner as any 
other point of error appearing upon the 
record. This proceeding is founded on the 
Stat. of Westminster, 2. 
Exception, in law, is a clause whereby 
the party contracting, excepts, or takes a 
particular thing out of a general thing 
granted or conveyed, and it must be some- 
thing which is not inseparable from it. It 
must not be the whole thing granted, but 
part thereof only, and must be conform- 
able, and not repugnant, to the grant, for 
then the exception is void. It must also 
be described with certainty. 
EXCHANGE, in political economy. The 
reciprocal payments of merchants are made 
in bills of exchange, the amount of which 
is expressed in the money of the country 
upon which they are drawn. In calculating 
the par of exchange, the coin of different 
countries is supposed to contain that quan- 
tity of gold or silver, of a determinate pu- 
rity, which, agreeably to the regulations of 
their respective mints, it ought to contain. 
Thus an English guinea is supposed to con- 
tain gjlb. troy of gold ; and a shilling felb. 
of silver, each of a certain degree of fine- 
ness. 
When a bill of exchange upon Lisbon 
can be procured in London for the same 
weight of gold or silver which the sum of 
Portuguese money for which it is drawn is 
supposed to contain, exchange between 
London and Lisbon is said to be at par ; 
when it can be procured for less, exchange 
is said to be below par, or in favour of 
London ; when more must be given, ex- 
change is said to be above par, or against 
London. 
The value of all the bills of exchange 
which the merchants of London can draw 
upon the merchants of any other place, 
must in general be regulated by the value 
of the consignments which they have made 
to that place, and consequently the course 
of exchange affords an indication of the 
state of the trade between different coun- 
tries. When bills upon Lisbon, for instance, 
are scarce in London, and exchange conse- 
quently above par, it is a sign that London 
owes more to Lisbon, than Lisbon to 
London ; and the reverse is a sign of the 
contrary. 
But there are other circumstances by 
which the course of exchange is very mate- 
rially affected. Should the circulating coin 
of any country, v. g. be considerably de- 
based, and its real value, the quantity of 
gold or silver which it really contains be 
much less than its nominal value, exchange 
may appear to be against a country, while 
actually it is in favour of it. Before the re- 
formation of our silver coinage in the reign 
of William III. we are informed by Dr. 
Smith, the exchange between England and 
Holland computed by the standard of their 
respective mints, was 25 per cent, against 
England ; but the current coin of England 
was at that time rather more than 25 per 
cent, below its standard value, and conse- 
quently exchange was really in favour of 
England. The issue of assignats during the 
revolution, depreciated the currency of 
France in a greater degree than was ever 
known in any other instance, and accor- 
dingly the exchange between London and 
Paris became between 60 and TO per cent, 
against the latter place. 
An unfavourable state of the exchange 
with any country furnishes a motive for ex- 
porting commodities to it. The merchant 
under these circumstances can afford to sell 
his commodities as much cheaper as the 
premium which he is obliged to pay for a 
bill of exchange amounts to. Hence the 
course of exchange always tends to an equi- 
librium. Indeed it can never really exceed 
the expense of sending gold or silver bullion 
to the place upon which the bill is drawn ; 
since this is the money of the commercial 
world, and will every where be accepted in 
payment. Its apparent rise above this ex- 
pense is to be ascribed to a depreciation of 
the currency or some similar cause. We 
shall now enter more into the practical part 
of exchange.- 
In treating this subject, we shall first 
give an idea of the nature of exchanges ; in 
the second place we propose explaining the 
peculiar terms in use among merchants rela- 
tive to bills; and, thirdly, we shall give 
examples of exchange with the principal 
