To 
raise an exception 
is to raise a new occurrence of that exception, as explained in 
11.4. 
For the execution of a 
raise_statement 
with an 
exception_name, 
the named exception is raised. Similarly, for the evaluation of a 
raise_expression, 
the named exception is raised. In both of these cases, if a 
string_expression 
or 
string_simple_expression 
is present, the expression is evaluated and its value is associated with 
the exception occurrence. 
For the execution of a 
re-raise statement, the exception occurrence that caused transfer of 
control to the innermost enclosing handler is raised again.