  A rectangular Wilson loop centered at the origin, with sides parallel to
space and time directions and length $2L$ and $2T$ respectively, is
perturbatively evaluated ${\cal O}(g^4)$ in Feynman gauge for Yang--Mills
theory in $1+(D-1)$ dimensions. When $D>2$, there is a dependence on the
dimensionless ratio $L/T$, besides the area. In the limit $T \to \infty$,
keeping $D>2$, the leading expression of the loop involves only the Casimir
constant $C_F$ of the fundamental representation and is thereby in agreement
with the expected Abelian-like time exponentiation (ALTE). At $D= 2$ the result
depends also on $C_A$, the Casimir constant of the adjoint representation and a
pure area law behavior is recovered, but no agreement with ALTE in the limit
$T\to\infty$. Consequences of these results concerning two and
higher-dimensional gauge theories are pointed out.
