Famous speeches plevako. Russian lawyer Plevako F.N.: a few words about a great man

Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako

Judicial speeches

Curriculum vitae

Plevako Fedor Nikiforovich (1842-1908) is the largest pre-revolutionary Russian lawyer, whose name is well known not only in our country, but also far beyond its borders. FN Plevako received his legal education at Moscow University. Shortly after the introduction of the Judicial Charters of 1864, he joined the bar and was a barrister at the Moscow Court of Justice. Gradually, from trial to trial, he won wide recognition and fame as an outstanding judicial orator with his smart, heartfelt speeches. He always carefully prepared for the case, knew all its circumstances well, was able to deeply analyze the evidence and show the court the inner meaning of certain phenomena. His speeches were distinguished by great psychological depth, intelligibility and simplicity. He covered the most complex human relationships, sometimes insoluble everyday situations in an accessible, understandable form for listeners, with special inner warmth. In the words of A.F. Koni, it was "... a person whose oratory turned into inspiration."

AT court speeches he did not confine himself to covering only the legal side of the case under consideration. In a number of court speeches, F.N. Plevako touched upon major social issues that were in the field of view and worried the progressive public.

One cannot forget his angry words to Abbess Mitrofania:

“A traveler walking past the high walls of the Vladychny Monastery, entrusted to the moral guidance of this woman, is piously baptized on the golden crosses of the temples and thinks that he is walking past the house of God, and in this house the morning bells raised the abbess and her servants not to prayer, but to dark deeds !

Instead of a temple, there is an exchange; instead of praying people - swindlers and buyers fake documents; prayers together - an exercise in drafting bills of exchange; instead of feats of goodness - preparation for false testimony - that's what was hidden behind the walls.

Monastery walls in our ancient cloisters hide worldly temptations from monks, but Abbess Mitrofania’s is not the same…

Higher, higher, build the walls of the communities entrusted to you, so that the world does not see the deeds that you do under the “veil of the cassock and the monastery! ..”

F. N. Plevako also touches on acute social issues in other speeches. Thus, speaking in defense of the Luthoric peasants who rebelled against inhuman exploitation and immeasurable exactions, he says;

“When we are charged with what is not due, we worry, we lose our self-control; we worry, losing either a small share of our wealth, or something acquired, reparable.

But a peasant has a rare ruble and gets it dearly. With the blood ruble taken away from him, the happiness and future of the family often go away, eternal slavery begins, eternal dependence on world-eaters and the rich. Once a broken household dies, and a laborer is condemned for life to seek, as a beneficence, work from the strong and kiss the hand that gives him a penny for labor, delivering hundreds of rubles to another benefit, kiss, like the hand of a benefactor, and cry, and ask for a new beneficence, new bondage labor for crumbs of bread and miserable rags.

Plevako never counted only on his talent. The basis of his success was great diligence, persistent work on the word and thought.

F. N. Plevako is the most colorful figure among the largest pre-revolutionary lawyers, he stood out sharply with his bright personality among the pre-revolutionary advocacy, which was not poor in talented speakers.

A.F. Koni described Plevako’s talent as follows: “... through the outward appearance of a defender, a tribune appeared, for whom the case was only an excuse and who was hindered by the fence of a particular case, which hampered the flapping of his wings, with all their inherent strength” .

Speaking of Plevako, V.V. Veresaev, in one of his memoirs, conveys the following story about him:

“His main strength lay in intonations, in a genuine, downright magical contagiousness of feeling, with which he knew how to ignite the listener. Therefore, his speeches on paper and in a remote way do not convey their tremendous power.

A priest who committed a serious crime, in which he was fully exposed, was tried, and the defendant did not deny guilt.

After the prosecutor's thunderous speech, Plevako spoke. He got up slowly, pale and agitated. His speech consisted of only a few phrases ...

“Gentlemen, jurors! The matter is clear. The prosecutor is absolutely right in everything - the defendant committed all these crimes and confessed to them. What is there to argue about? But I draw your attention to this. Before you sits a man who for THIRTY YEARS let go of all your sins in confession. Now he is waiting for you: will you forgive him his sin? And sat down. Speaking about another case, Veresaev writes:

“Prosecutors knew the power of Plevako. The old woman stole a tin teapot worth less than 50 kopecks. She was a hereditary honorary citizen and, as a member of the privileged class, was subject to a jury trial. Whether along with it or so, on a whim, Plevako acted as the protector of the old woman. The prosecutor decided in advance to paralyze the influence of Plevako's defense speech and himself expressed everything that could be said in defense of the old woman: poor old woman, bitter need, insignificant theft, the defendant does not cause indignation, but only pity. But property is sacred. All our civic amenities rest on property, if we let people shake it, the country will perish.

Plevako got up.

- Many troubles, many trials had to endure Russia for its more than a thousand years of existence. Pechenegs tormented her, Polovtsy, Tatars and Poles. Twelve languages ​​fell upon her, they took Moscow. Russia endured everything, overcame everything, only grew stronger and grew from trials. But now, now... The old lady stole an old teapot worth 30 kopecks. Russia, of course, will not withstand this, it will perish irrevocably from this.

But not only the jury succumbed to the charm of Plevako's great talent, and crown judges often found themselves in the pit of his great, strong and subtle psychological influence.

Comparisons and images of Plevako are very strong, convincing, deeply memorable. Figurative comparisons further enhance the impression of his spectacular speeches.

Plevako's speech in defense of Bartenev in the case of the murder of the actress Visnovskaya is a brilliant example of Russian judicial eloquence. It differs exclusively in psychological depth, a subtle analysis of the state of mind of the murdered and the defendant. This speech is impeccable in its style and is highly artistic. An analysis of the psychological state of a young, successful artist and the defendant is given with exceptional depth and talent.

Plevako Fedor Nikiforovich (1842-1909) - one of the largest pre-revolutionary Russian lawyers, lawyer, court speaker, real state councilor. He knew how to convince and protect. In 1870 he graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University. Member of the 3rd State Duma from the Octobrist Party. A supporter of democratic principles of judiciary. For representatives of the legal professions, all Russians, the name Plevako has been and remains the embodiment of the excellent qualities of a lawyer, a defender of goodness and justice, who cares about the welfare and prosperity of the Fatherland.

Among the pre-revolutionary lawyers, it was Plevako who was distinguished by his amazing eloquence and impeccable mastery of rhetoric.

It was his speeches that are famous for the huge number of references to biblical texts, the constant study of which endowed Plevako with a sharp sense of the word and a very well-aimed and calm speech. Plevako's oratorical talent is still an interesting and insufficiently studied phenomenon. Plevako's judicial speeches were characterized by validity, calmness of tone, and a deep analysis of facts and events. It was not for nothing that Plevako received the following definitions: “great speaker”, “genius of words”, “senior hero”, “metropolitan of the bar”, etc. He enjoyed unlimited respect from both the intelligentsia and the common people.

Plevako was one of those pre-revolutionary lawyers who developed the foundations of Russian judicial rhetoric.

Plevako's participation in high-profile criminal trials is a separate topic for serious scientific discussion.

Only a part of the cases in which Plevako brilliantly participated:
The case of the Luthoric peasants;
The Zamyatnin case;
The case of Lukashevich;
The case of the Sevsk peasants;
The case of the workers of the Konshinskaya factory;
The Bartenev case;
The case of Maksimenko;
The Gruzinsky case;
Zasulich case.

Quotes Plevako

All famous lawyers of pre-revolutionary Russia left a deep mark not only in the history of law, but also in the history of literature. Their judicial speeches are replete with expressions that are themselves aphorisms. Many expressions of pre-revolutionary lawyers are actively used in fiction and in journalism. And here in special series there are quotes from Plevako, which in certain circles have become aphorisms. Here is some of them:

"A swear word is an interjection of the folk language."

“Behind the prosecutor is the law, and behind the lawyer is a man with his own destiny, with his aspirations, and this man climbs on a lawyer, seeks his protection, and it is very scary to slip with such a burden.”

“There are moments when the soul is indignant at unrighteousness, other people’s sins, it is indignant in the name of the moral rules in which it believes, by which it lives, and, indignant, strikes the one with whom it is indignant… Thus, Peter strikes a slave who insults his teacher. There is still guilt, intemperance, lack of love for the fallen, but guilt is more excusable than the first, for the act is due not to weakness, not pride, but to a jealous love for truth and justice.

Fragments from legendary processes Plevako.

"20 minutes"

The lawyer F.N. Plevako defended the owner of a small shop, a semi-literate woman who violated the rules on trading hours and closed the trade 20 minutes later than it was supposed to, on the eve of some religious holiday. The court hearing in her case was scheduled for 10 o'clock. The court left 10 minutes late. Everyone was there, except for the defender - Plevako. The chairman of the court ordered to find Plevako. After 10 minutes, Plevako, without hurrying, entered the hall, calmly sat down at the place of protection and opened the briefcase. The chairman of the court reprimanded him for being late. Then Plevako pulled out his watch, looked at it and declared that it was only five past ten on his watch. The chairman pointed out to him that it was already 20 past ten on the wall clock. Plevako asked the chairman: - And how much is on your watch, Your Excellency? The chairman looked and replied:

At my fifteen minutes past eleven. Plevako turned to the prosecutor:

And on your watch, Mr. Prosecutor?

The prosecutor, obviously wishing to cause trouble for the defense counsel, replied with a sly smile:

It's already twenty-five past ten on my watch.

He could not know what kind of trap Plevako set up for him and how much he, the prosecutor, helped the defense.

The trial ended very quickly. Witnesses confirmed that the defendant closed the shop 20 minutes late. The prosecutor asked that the defendant be found guilty. The floor was given to Plevako. The speech lasted two minutes. He declared:

The defendant was indeed 20 minutes late. But, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, she is an old woman, illiterate, and does not know much about watches. We are literate and intelligent people. How are you doing with your watch? When the wall clock shows 20 minutes, the chairman has 15 minutes, and the prosecutor's clock has 25 minutes. Of course, Mr. Prosecutor has the most faithful watch. So my watch was 20 minutes behind, which is why I was 20 minutes late. And I always considered my watch very accurate, because I have gold, Moser.

So if Mr. Chairman, according to the prosecutor's clock, opened the session 15 minutes late, and the defense counsel appeared 20 minutes later, then how can you demand that an illiterate tradeswoman have best watch and better versed in the time than we are with the prosecutor?

The jury deliberated for one minute and acquitted the defendant.

"15 years of unfair reproaches"

Once, Plevako got a case about the murder of his woman by one man. Plevako came to court as usual, calm and confident of success, and without any papers and cribs. And so, when the turn came to the defense, Plevako stood up and said:

The noise in the hall began to subside. Plevako again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

There was dead silence in the hall. Lawyer again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

There was a slight rustle in the hall, but the speech did not begin. Again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

Here in the hall swept the discontented rumble of the long-awaited long-awaited spectacle of the people. And Plevako again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

Here already the hall exploded with indignation, perceiving everything as a mockery of the respectable public. And from the podium again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

Something incredible has begun. The hall roared along with the judge, prosecutor and assessors. And finally, Plevako raised his hand, urging the people to calm down.

Well, gentlemen, you could not stand even 15 minutes of my experiment. And what was it like for this unfortunate man to listen to 15 years unfair reproaches and the irritated itch of his grumpy woman over every insignificant trifle?!

The hall froze, then burst into admiring applause.

The man was acquitted.

"Remission of Sins"

He once defended an elderly priest accused of adultery and theft. By all appearances, the defendant had nothing to count on the favor of the jury. The prosecutor convincingly described the depth of the fall of the clergyman, mired in sins. Finally, Plevako got up from his seat. His speech was brief: “Gentlemen of the jury! The matter is clear. The prosecutor is absolutely right about everything. The defendant committed all these crimes and confessed to them himself. What is there to argue about? But I draw your attention to this. Before you sits a man who for thirty years has forgiven you for your confession of your sins. Now he is waiting for you: will you forgive him his sin?

There is no need to specify that the priest was acquitted.

"30 kopecks"

The court is considering the case of an old woman, a hereditary honorary citizen, who stole a tin teapot worth 30 kopecks. The prosecutor, knowing that Plevako would defend her, decided to cut the ground from under his feet, and he himself painted for the jury hard life client, forcing her to take such a step. The prosecutor even stressed that the criminal causes pity, not resentment. But, gentlemen, private property is sacred, the world order is based on this principle, so if you justify this grandmother, then you and the revolutionaries should logically be justified. The jurors nodded their heads in agreement, and then Plevako began his speech. He said: “Russia has had to endure many troubles, many trials for more than a thousand years of existence. Pechenegs tormented her, Polovtsy, Tatars, Poles. Twelve languages ​​fell upon her, they took Moscow. Russia endured everything, overcame everything, only grew stronger and grew from trials. But now... The old woman stole an old teapot worth 30 kopecks. Russia, of course, will not withstand this, it will perish irrevocably from this ... "

The old woman was acquitted.

"I took off my shoes!"

In addition to the story about the famous lawyer Plevako. He defends a man whom a prostitute has accused of rape and is trying to get a significant amount from him in court for the injury. Facts of the case: the plaintiff alleges that the defendant lured her into a hotel room and raped her there. The man also declares that everything was in good agreement. The last word for Plevako.

"Gentlemen of the jury," he says. "If you award my client a fine, then I ask you to deduct from this amount the cost of washing the sheets that the plaintiff soiled with her shoes."

The prostitute jumps up and shouts: "That's not true! I took off my shoes!"

Laughter in the hall. The defendant is acquitted.

"The Omen"

The great Russian lawyer F.N. Plevako is credited with the frequent use of the religious mood of jurors in the interests of clients. Once, speaking in the provincial district court, he agreed with the bell-ringer of the local church that he would begin the evangelization for mass with special precision.

The speech of the famous lawyer lasted several hours, and at the end F.N. Plevako exclaimed: If my client is innocent, the Lord will give a sign about that!

And then the bells rang. The jurors crossed themselves. The meeting lasted several minutes, and the foreman announced a verdict of not guilty.

The Georgian case.

The present case was considered by the Ostrogozhsky District Court on September 29-30, 1883. Prince G.I. Gruzinsky was accused of premeditated murder of the former tutor of his children, who later managed the estate of Gruzinsky's wife - E.F. Schmidt.

The preliminary investigation established the following. E.F. Schmidt, invited by Gruzinsky last. After Gruzinsky demanded that his wife stop all relations as a tutor, very quickly becomes close to his wife with a tutor, and fired him himself, the wife declared that it was impossible to continue living with Gruzinsky and demanded the allocation of part of her property. Having settled in the estate allotted to her, she invited E.F. Schmidt. After the partition, two of Gruzinsky's children lived for some time with their mother in the same estate where Schmidt was the manager. Schmidt often used this to take revenge on Gruzinsky. The latter had limited opportunities for meetings with children, children were told a lot of compromising things about Gruzinsky. As a result, being constantly in a tense nervous state when meeting with Schmidt and with the children, Gruzinsky, during one of these meetings, killed Schmidt by shooting him several times with a pistol.

Plevako, defending the defendant, very consistently proves the absence of intent in his actions and the need to qualify them as committed in a state of insanity. He focuses on the feelings of the prince at the time of the crime, on his relationship with his wife, on love for children. He tells the story of the prince, about his meeting with the "clerk from the store", about his relationship with the old princess, about how the prince took care of his wife and children. The eldest son was growing up, the prince was taking him to St. Petersburg, to school. There he falls ill with a fever. The prince experiences three attacks, during which he manages to return to Moscow - "Gently loving father my husband wants to see his family."

“It was then that the prince, who had not yet left the bed, had to experience terrible grief. Since he hears - the patients are so sensitive - in the next room, the conversation of Schmidt and his wife: they, apparently, perekoresh; but their quarrel is so strange: it’s like they are scolding, and not strangers, then again peaceful speeches ... uncomfortable ... The prince gets up, gathers strength ..., goes when no one expected him, when they thought that he was bedridden ... And well. not good together...

The prince fainted and lay on the floor all night. Those who were caught fled, not even guessing to send help to the sick man. The prince could not kill the enemy, destroy him, he was weak ... He only accepted misfortune in an open heart, so that he would never know separation from him "

Plevako claims that he would not have dared to blame the princess and Schmidt, to doom them to the sacrifice of the prince, if they had left, had not boasted of their love, had not insulted him, had not extorted money from him, that this "would be hypocrisy of the word."

The princess lives in her half of the estate. Then she leaves, leaving the children with Schmidt. The prince is angry: he takes the children. But here the unthinkable happens. “Schmidt, taking advantage of the fact that children’s underwear is in the princess’s house where he lives, rejects the demand with a curse and sends an answer that without 300 rubles a deposit he will not give the prince two shirts and two pants for children. and children, and dares to call him a man capable of wasting children's underwear, takes care of the children, and demands a 300 ruble deposit from the father. The next morning, the prince saw children in crumpled shirts. "My father's heart sank. He turned away from these talking eyes and - which father's love will not do - went out into the hallway, got into the carriage prepared for him for the trip and went ... went to ask his rival, enduring shame and humiliation, shirts for his children " .

Schmidt, according to witnesses, loaded the guns at night. The prince had a gun, but it was a habit, not an intention. “I affirm,” Plevako said, “that an ambush awaits him there. Linen, refusal, bail, loaded guns of large and small caliber - everything speaks for my idea.”

He goes to Schmidt. "Of course, his soul could not help but be indignant when he saw the nest of his enemies and began to approach him. Here it is - the place where, in the hours of his grief and suffering, they - his enemies - laugh and rejoice at his misfortune. Here it is - a lair where the honor of the family, and his honor, and all the interests of his children are sacrificed to the animal voluptuousness of a swindler.Here it is - a place where not only was his present taken away, his past happiness was taken away, poisoning him with suspicions ...

God forbid to experience such moments!

In this mood, he rides, approaches the house, knocks on the door. Door.

He is not allowed. The footman speaks of the order not to accept.

The prince conveys that he needs nothing but linen.

But instead of doing it legal requirement, instead of, finally, a polite refusal, he hears scolding, scolding from the lips of his wife's lover, directed towards him, who does not do any insult on his part.

You have heard about this curse: "Let the scoundrel leave, don't you dare knock, this is my house! Get out, I'll shoot."

The whole being of the prince was indignant. The enemy stood close and laughed so brazenly. The fact that he was armed, the prince could know from his family, who heard from Tsybulin. And the fact that he is capable of all evil - the prince could not help but believe.

He shoots. "But, listen, gentlemen," says the defender, "was there a living place in his soul at that terrible moment." "The prince could not cope with these feelings. They are too legitimate, these are for them" and sacredness. It is not a vicious feeling of malice that rises in their souls, but a righteous feeling of revenge and protection of the violated right. It is legal, it is holy; do not rise it, they are contemptible people, pimps, blasphemers!"

Finishing his speech, Fyodor Nikiforovich said: “Oh, how happy I would be if, having measured and compared with your own understanding the strength of his patience and struggle with himself, and the strength of oppression over him by the pictures of his family misfortune that disturbed the soul, you would admit that he cannot be blamed for the accusation that is being raised, and his defender is all around guilty of insufficient ability to fulfill the task he has assumed ... "

The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, finding that the crime was committed in a state of insanity.

"Begin!"

From the memoirs of Plevako… Once a wealthy Moscow merchant turned to him for help. Plevako says: “I heard about this merchant. I decided that I would break such a fee that the merchant would be horrified. And he was not only not surprised, but also said:

You just win my case. I'll pay what you said, and I'll give you pleasure.

What is the pleasure?

Win the case, you'll see.

I won the case. The merchant paid the fee. I reminded him of the promised pleasure. The merchant says:

On Sunday, at ten o'clock in the morning, I'll pick you up, let's go.

Where so early?

Look, you'll see.

It's Sunday. The merchant followed me. We are going to Zamoskvorechye. I wonder where he's taking me. There are no restaurants here, no gypsies. Yes, this is not the right time for this. Let's go down some lanes. There are no residential buildings around, only barns and warehouses. We drove up to a warehouse. A man is standing at the gate. Not a watchman, not an artel worker. Got down.

Kupchina asks the man:

That's right, your degree.

I'm going to the yard. The little man opened a door. Came in, look and do not understand anything. A huge room, on the walls of the shelves, on the shelves of dishes.

The merchant escorted the peasant out, stripped off his fur coat, and offered to take it off for me. I undress. The merchant went to a corner, took two hefty clubs, gave me one of them and said:

Get started.

What to start?

Like what? Dishes to beat!

Why beat her? The merchant smiled.

Start, you will understand why ... - The merchant went to the shelves and broke a bunch of dishes with one blow. I hit too. Also broke. We began to beat the dishes and, imagine, I went into such a rage and began to break dishes with a club with such fury that it’s even a shame to remember. Imagine that I really experienced some kind of wild, but spicy pleasure and could not calm down until the merchant and I smashed everything to the last cup. When it was all over, the merchant asked me:

Well, did you enjoy it?

I had to admit that I did."

All rights reserved © A. Yu. Kozhemyakin, 2007-2018.

Defense and representation in criminal cases; representation of interests in civil disputes, arbitration. credit disputes. tax disputes. corporate disputes. Land disputes. Consultations. Drafting of documents.

The site is not a mass media; the author is not responsible for evaluation publications, including comments left by third parties. The information published on the site cannot be used as evidence in legal proceedings.

Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako was born on April 25, 1842 in the city of Troitsk. His father, Vasily Ivanovich Plevak, was a member of the Trinity customs, a court adviser from the Ukrainian nobles. He had four children, two of whom died in infancy. With Fedor's mother, a Kyrgyz serf Ekaterina Stepanova, Vasily Ivanovich was not in a church (that is, official) marriage, and therefore the future "genius of the word" and his older brother Dormidont were illegitimate children. According to tradition, Fedor took his first surname, as well as patronymic, according to the name godfather- Nicephora.

From 1848 to 1851, Fedor studied at the Trinity parish and then district school, and in the summer of 1851, in connection with his father's retirement, their family moved to Moscow. In the autumn of the same year, a nine-year-old boy was assigned to a commercial school located on Ostozhenka and considered exemplary at that time. The institution was often honored with a visit even by persons of the royal family, who loved to test the knowledge of students. Fedor and his brother Dormidont studied diligently and were straight A students, and by the end of their first year of study, their names were put on the “golden board”. When, at the beginning of the second year of training for boys, the nephew of Emperor Nicholas, Prince Peter of Oldenburg, visited the school, he was told about Fedor's unique abilities to perform various arithmetic operations in his mind with four-digit numbers. The prince himself tested the boy and, convinced of his skills, presented a box of chocolates. And at the very end of 1852, Vasily Ivanovich was announced that his sons were expelled from the school as illegitimate. The experienced humiliation Fedor Nikiforovich remembered well for the rest of his life, and many years later he wrote in his autobiography: “We were called unworthy of the very school that praised us for our successes and flaunted our exceptional abilities in mathematics. God forgive them! These narrow-minded people really didn’t know what they were doing, performing a human sacrifice.”

Only in the fall of 1853, thanks to the long efforts of his father, his sons were admitted to the third grade of the First Moscow Gymnasium, located on Prechistenka. He graduated from the gymnasium Fedor in the spring of 1859 and as a volunteer entered the law faculty of the capital's university, changing his surname Nikiforov to the surname of his father Plevak. During the years spent at the university, Fedor buried his father and older brother, and his sick sister and mother remained dependent on him. Fortunately, studying was easy for a talented young man, as a student, he worked as a tutor and translator, visited Germany, listened to a course of lectures at the famous Heidelberg University, and also translated the works of the famous lawyer Georg Puchta into Russian. Fedor Nikiforovich graduated from the university in 1864, having a diploma of a candidate of rights in his hands, and again changed his surname, adding the letter “o” to it at the end, and with an accent on it.

The young man did not immediately decide on the calling of a lawyer - for several years, Fedor Nikiforovich, waiting for a suitable vacancy, worked as an intern at the Moscow District Court. And after in the spring of 1866, in connection with the beginning of the Judicial reform of Alexander II in Russia, a sworn advocacy began to be created, Plevako signed up as an assistant to a sworn attorney, one of the first Moscow lawyers, Mikhail Ivanovich Dobrokhotov. It was in the rank of assistant that Fyodor Nikiforovich first showed himself as a skilled lawyer and in September 1870 was admitted to the number of sworn attorneys of the district. One of the first criminal trials with his participation was the defense of a certain Alexei Maruev, accused of two forgeries. Despite the fact that Plevako lost this case, and his client was sent to Siberia, the speech young man well demonstrated his remarkable talents. About the witnesses in the case, Plevako said: “The first ascribes to the second what the second ascribes, in turn, to the first ... So they destroy themselves mutually in the most important issues! And what kind of faith can there be in them?!" The second case brought Fedor Nikiforovich the first fee of two hundred rubles, and he woke up famous after the seemingly losing case of Kostrubo-Karitsky, who was accused of trying to poison his mistress. The lady was defended by the two best Russian lawyers that time - Spasovich and Urusov, but the jury acquitted Plevako's client.

From that moment began the brilliant ascent of Fedor Nikiforovich to the pinnacle of advocacy glory. He countered the harsh attacks of his opponents in the trials with a calm tone, well-founded objections, and detailed analysis of the evidence. All those present at his speeches unanimously noted that Plevako was a speaker from God. People came from other cities to hear his speech in court. The newspapers wrote that when Fedor Nikiforovich finished his speech, the audience sobbed, and the judges no longer understood who to judge. Many of Fyodor Nikiforovich's speeches became anecdotes and parables, dispersed into quotes (for example, Plevako's favorite phrase, with which he usually began his speech: “Gentlemen, it could have been worse”), were included in textbooks for law students and, undoubtedly, are the property literary heritage countries. It is curious that, unlike other luminaries of the sworn advocacy of that time - Urusov, Andreevsky, Karabchevsky - Fedor Nikiforovich was poor in external data. Anatoly Koni described him as follows: “Angular, bony Kalmyk face. Wide-set eyes, naughty strands of long dark hair. His appearance could be called ugly if it were not for the inner beauty that shone through now in a kind smile, now in an animated expression, now in the brilliance and fire of talking eyes. His movements were uneven and sometimes awkward, his lawyer's tailcoat sat awkwardly on him, and his whispering voice came out, it seemed, in defiance of his vocation as an orator. However, this voice sounded notes of such passion and strength that it captured the listeners and conquered them to itself. The writer Vikenty Veresaev recalled: “His main strength was in his intonations, in the irresistible, downright magical contagiousness of feelings with which he knew how to ignite listeners. Therefore, his speeches on paper do not closely convey their amazing power. According to the authoritative opinion of Koni, Fedor Nikiforovich impeccably mastered the threefold calling of the defense side: "to propitiate, to convince, to touch." It is also interesting that Plevako never wrote the texts of his speeches in advance, however, at the request of close friends or newspaper reporters, after the trial, if he was not lazy, he wrote down his spoken speech. By the way, Plevako was the first in Moscow to use a Remington typewriter.

Plevako's strength as a speaker was not only in emotionality, resourcefulness and psychologism, but also in the colorfulness of the word. Fedor Nikiforovich was a master at antitheses (for example, his phrase about a Jew and a Russian: “Our dream is to eat five times a day and not get heavy, and his - once every five days and not grow thin”), picture comparisons (censorship, according to Plevako’s words: “These are tongs that remove carbon deposits from a candle without extinguishing its light and fire”), to spectacular appeals (to the jury: “Open your arms - I give him (the client) to you!”), to the murdered man: “Comrade, peacefully sleeping in the coffin!"). In addition, Fedor Nikiforovich was an unsurpassed specialist in cascades of loud phrases, beautiful images and witty antics that unexpectedly came to his head and saved his clients. How unpredictable Plevako's finds were can be clearly seen from a couple of his speeches, which have become legends - during the defense of a stealing priest, who was removed from his dignity for this, and an old woman who stole a tin teapot. In the first case, the priest's guilt in stealing church money was firmly proven. The defendant confessed to it himself. All the witnesses were against him, and the prosecutor issued a murderous speech. Plevako, having remained silent throughout the entire judicial investigation and without asking a single question to the witnesses, made a bet with his friend that his defense speech would last exactly one minute, after which the priest would be acquitted. When his time came, Fyodor Nikiforovich, rising and turning to the jury, said in a characteristic sincere voice: “Gentlemen of the jury, my client has been releasing your sins for more than twenty years. Let them go and you will give him one time, Russian people.” The priest was acquitted. In the case of the old woman and the teapot, the prosecutor, wishing in advance to reduce the effect of the defense speech of the lawyer, himself said everything possible in favor of the old woman (poor, sorry for the grandmother, trifling theft), but at the end he emphasized that property is sacred and inviolable, "because it the improvement of Russia is maintained. Fedor Nikiforovich, who spoke after him, remarked: “Our country had to endure many trials and troubles during its thousand-year existence. And the Tatars tormented her, and the Polovtsy, and the Poles, and the Pechenegs. Twelve languages ​​attacked her and captured Moscow. Russia overcame everything, endured everything, only grew and grew stronger from trials. But now... now the old woman has stolen a tin teapot worth thirty kopecks. The country, of course, will not be able to withstand this and will perish from it.” It makes no sense to say that the old woman was also acquitted.

Behind each of Plevako's victories in court was not only natural talent, but also careful preparation, a comprehensive analysis of the evidence of the prosecution, an in-depth study of the circumstances of the case, as well as the testimony of witnesses and defendants. Often, criminal trials involving Fedor Nikiforovich acquired an all-Russian resonance. One of them was the "Mitrofanevsky trial" - the trial of the abbess of the Serpukhov monastery, which aroused interest even abroad. Mitrofania - she is Baroness Praskovya Rosen in the world - was the daughter of a hero Patriotic War Adjutant General Grigory Rosen. Being a maid of honor of the royal court in 1854, she took the veil as a nun and ruled in the Serpukhov monastery from 1861. Over the next ten years, relying on her proximity to the court and her connections, the abbess stole over seven hundred thousand rubles through forgery and fraud. The investigation into this case was started in St. Petersburg by Anatoly Koni, who at that time was the prosecutor of the St. Petersburg District Court, and she was tried in October 1874 by the Moscow District Court. Plevako flashed in an unusual role for himself as an attorney for the victims, becoming the main accuser at the trial, both of the abbess and her henchmen. Refuting the arguments of the defense, confirming the conclusions of the investigation, he said: God's house but in this house the morning chimes raised the abbess not to prayers, but to dark deeds! Instead of praying people, swindlers are there, instead of feats of goodness - preparation for false testimony, instead of a temple - an exchange, instead of prayer - exercises in drafting bills, that's what lurked behind the walls ... Higher, higher, build fences entrusted to you, so that the world would not see visible deeds created under the cover of the monastery and the cassock!” Abbess Mitrofania was found guilty of fraud and went into exile in Siberia.

Perhaps the greatest public outcry of all the processes involving Fyodor Nikiforovich was caused by the case of Savva Mamontov in July 1900. Savva Ivanovich was an industrial magnate, the main shareholder of railway companies, one of the most famous patrons of art in Russia. His estate "Abramtsevo" in the 1870-1890s was an important center artistic life. Ilya Repin, Vasily Polenov, Vasily Surikov, Valentin Serov, Viktor Vasnetsov, Konstantin Stanislavsky worked and met here. In 1885, Mamontov, at his own expense, founded a Russian opera in Moscow, where Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, Vladimir Lossky, Fedor Chaliapin shone. In the autumn of 1899, the Russian public was shocked by the arrest of Mamontov, his brother and two sons on charges of embezzlement and embezzlement of six million rubles from funds allocated for the construction of the Moscow-Yaroslavl-Arkhangelsk railway.

The process in this case was conducted by the chairman of the capital district court, an authoritative lawyer Davydov. The accuser was the well-known statesman Pavel Kurlov, the future head of the Separate Corps of Gendarmes. Plevako was invited to defend Savva Mamontov, and three more luminaries of the Russian legal profession defended his relatives: Karabchevsky, Shubinsky and Maklakov. The central event of the process was the defensive speech of Fyodor Nikiforovich. With a trained eye, he quickly established weak spots charges and told the jury how patriotic and grandiose his client's plan was to build railway to Vyatka in order to “revive the North”, and how, as a result of an unsuccessful choice of performers, a generously financed operation turned into losses, and Mamontov himself went bankrupt. Plevako said: “Just think, what happened here? Crime or calculation error? The intention to harm the Yaroslavl road or the desire to save its interests? Woe to the vanquished! However, let this vile phrase be repeated by the pagans. And we will say: "Have mercy on the unfortunate!". The court decision recognized the fact of embezzlement, but all the defendants were acquitted.
Fedor Nikiforovich himself explained the secrets of his success as a defender quite simply. The first of these he called a sense of responsibility to his client. Plevako said: “There is a huge difference between the position of a defense attorney and a prosecutor. Behind the prosecutor's back is a cold, silent and unshakable law, and behind the defender - living people. Relying on us, they climb on their shoulders and it’s scary to stumble with such a burden! The second secret of Fyodor Nikiforovich was his amazing ability to influence jurors. He explained this to Surikov in this way: “Vasily Ivanovich, when you paint portraits, you try to look into the soul of the person posing for you. So I try to penetrate the soul of each juror with my eyes and pronounce my speech so that it reaches their consciousness.

Was the lawyer always sure of the innocence of his clients? Of course no. In 1890, delivering a defense speech in the case of Alexandra Maksimenko, who was accused of poisoning her husband, Plevako said bluntly: “If you ask me if I am convinced of her innocence, I will not say yes.” I don't want to cheat. But I am not convinced of her guilt either. And when it is necessary to choose between death and life, then all doubts must be resolved in favor of life. However, Fyodor Nikiforovich tried to avoid cases that were obviously wrong. For example, he refused to defend in court the famous swindler Sofya Bluvshtein, better known as "Sonka is a golden pen."

Plevako became the only luminary of the domestic advocacy who never acted as a defender on a strictly political processes, where the Social Democrats, Narodnaya Volya, Narodniks, Cadets, and Socialist-Revolutionaries were suing. This was largely due to the fact that back in 1872, the career and, possibly, the life of a lawyer almost ended due to his alleged political unreliability. The case began with the fact that in December 1872, Lieutenant General Slezkin, the head of the Moscow provincial gendarme department, reported to the manager of the third department that a certain “secret legal society” had been discovered in the city, formed with the aim of “acquainting students with revolutionary ideas”, as well as “ have constant contacts with foreign figures and find ways to distribute banned books. According to the intelligence data received, the society included students of the Faculty of Law, candidates of law, and in addition, sworn attorneys, along with their assistants. The chief of the Moscow gendarmerie reported: “The aforementioned society currently has up to 150 full members ... Among the first is barrister Fyodor Plevako, who replaced Prince Urusov (expelled from Moscow to the Latvian town of Wenden and kept there under police supervision).” Seven months later, in July 1873, the same Slezkin wrote to his superiors that "all persons are being closely monitored, and all possible measures are being taken to find data that serve as a guarantee of the actions of this legal society." In the end, no data “that could serve as a guarantee” could be found, and the case was about “ secret society» was closed. However, from this very time until 1905, Plevako emphatically avoided politics.

Only a few times Fyodor Nikiforovich agreed to speak at trials in cases of "riots" that had a political connotation. One of the first such trials was the “Lyutorich case”, which made a lot of noise, in which Plevako stood up for the peasant rebels. In the spring of 1879, the peasants of the village of Lutorichi, located in the Tula province, revolted against their landowner. The troops crushed the rebellion, and its "instigators" in the amount of thirty-four people were brought to trial with the charge of "resisting the authorities." The Moscow Court of Justice considered the case at the end of 1880, and Plevako took upon himself not only the defense of the accused, but also all the costs of their maintenance during the process, which lasted, by the way, three weeks. His defensive speech was in fact an accusation of the regime that dominated the country. Calling the situation of the peasants after the reforms of 1861 “half-starved freedom,” Fyodor Nikiforovich proved with facts and figures that life in Lutorichi became several times harder than pre-reform slavery. He was so indignant at the enormous exactions from the peasants that he declared to the landowner and his manager: “I am ashamed of the time in which similar people live and act! Regarding the accusations of his clients, Plevako said: “Indeed, they are the instigators, they are the instigators, they are the cause of all causes. Lack of rights, hopeless poverty, shameless exploitation, which brought everyone and everything to ruin - these are they, the instigators. After the speech of the lawyer, according to eyewitnesses, in the courtroom "applause was heard from shocked and excited listeners." Thirty of the thirty-four defendants were forced to acquit the court, and Anatoly Koni said that Plevako's speech became "according to the mood and conditions of those years, a civil feat."

Fyodor Nikiforovich spoke just as loudly and boldly at the trial of the participants in the strike of the workers of the Nikolskaya manufactory, owned by the manufacturers Morozov and located near the village of Orekhovo (now the city of Orekhovo-Zuyevo). This strike, which took place in January 1885, became the largest and most organized in Russia by that time - more than eight thousand people took part in it. The strike was only partly political in nature - it was led by revolutionary workers Moiseenko and Volkov, and among other demands presented to the governor by the strikers was "a complete change of employment contracts in accordance with the published state law." Plevako took over the defense of the main accused - Volkov and Moiseenko. As in the Lutorichsky case, Fyodor Nikiforovich justified the defendants, considering their actions as a forced protest against the arbitrariness on the part of the owners of the manufactory. He emphasized: “Contrary to the terms of the contract and the general law, the factory administration does not heat the establishment, and the workers are at the machines at ten to fifteen degrees cold. Do they have the right to refuse work and leave in the presence of the unlawful acts of the owner, or are they forced to freeze to death with a heroic death? The owner also calculates them arbitrarily, and not according to the condition established by the contract. Should the workers endure and keep silent, or can they refuse to work in this case? I believe that the law should protect the interests of the owners against the lawlessness of the workers, and not take the owners under their protection in all their arbitrariness. Outlining the situation of the workers of the Nikolskaya manufactory, Plevako, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, uttered the following words: “If, while reading a book about black slaves, we are indignant, now we have white slaves before us.” The court was convinced by the arguments of the defence. The recognized leaders of the strike, Volkov and Moiseyenko, received only three months of arrest.

Often in court speeches, Plevako touched on topical social issues. At the end of 1897, when the capital's judicial chamber was examining the case of workers at the Konshin factory in the city of Serpukhov, who rebelled against ruthless working conditions and smashed the apartments of the factory authorities, Plevako put and explained legally and politically extremely important question on the correlation of collective and personal responsibility for any offense. He said: “A lawless and intolerable deed has been committed, and the mob was the criminal. But it is not the crowd that is judged, but several dozen faces seen in it: the crowd has left ... The crowd is a building in which people are bricks. A prison is built from the same bricks - the dwelling of the outcasts, and a temple to God. Being in the crowd does not mean wearing her instincts. Pickpockets also hide in the crowd of pilgrims. The crowd is contagious. Persons entering it become infected. Beating them is like destroying an epidemic by scourging the sick.”

It is curious that, unlike colleagues who are trying to turn the trial into a lesson in political literacy or a school of political education, Fyodor Nikiforovich always tried to bypass political aspects, and as a rule, universal human notes sounded in his defense. Addressing the privileged classes, Plevako appealed to their sense of philanthropy, urging them to extend a helping hand to the poor. Fedor Nikiforovich's worldview could be described as humanistic, he repeatedly emphasized that "the life of a single person is more precious than any reforms." And he added at the same time: “Everyone is equal before the court, even if you are a generalissimo!” It is curious that at the same time, Plevako found a sense of mercy natural and necessary for justice: “The word of the law is like a mother’s threats to her children. As long as there is no guilt, she promises her rebellious son a cruel punishment, but as soon as the need for punishment comes, motherly love is looking for a reason to mitigate the punishment.

Fedor Nikiforovich devoted almost forty years to human rights activities. Both the legal elite, and specialists, and the townsfolk valued Plevako above all other lawyers, calling him “a great orator”, “a genius of the word”, “metropolitan of the bar”. His surname itself has become a household name, meaning an extra-class lawyer. Without any irony in those years they wrote and said: “Find yourself another “Spitter”. In recognition of his merits, Fedor Nikiforovich was awarded the hereditary nobility, the title of a real state councilor (fourth class, corresponding to the rank of major general in the table of ranks) and an audience with the emperor. Fyodor Nikiforovich lived in a two-story mansion on Novinsky Boulevard, and the whole country knew this address. His personality surprisingly combined sweeping and wholeness, rampant nobility(for example, when Plevako organized Homeric feasts on steamboats chartered by him) and worldly simplicity. Despite the fact that fees and fame strengthened his financial position, money never had power over a lawyer. A contemporary wrote: “Fyodor Nikiforovich did not hide his wealth and was not ashamed of wealth. He believed that the main thing is to act like a god and not refuse help to those who really need it. Plevako conducted many cases not only for free, but also financially helping his poor defendants. In addition, Plevako, from his youth until his death, was an indispensable member of various charitable institutions, for example, the Society for Charity, Education and Education of Blind Children or the Committee for the Arrangement of Student Hostels. Nevertheless, kind to the poor, he literally knocked out huge fees from the merchants, while demanding advances. When they asked him what an “advance payment” was, Plevako answered: “Do you know the deposit? So the advance payment is the same deposit, but three times more.”

An interesting trait of Plevako's character was his indulgence towards his spiteful critics and envious people. At a feast on the occasion of his twenty-fifth birthday lawyer career Fyodor Nikiforovich clinked affably, both with friends and with invited well-known enemies. To the surprise of his wife, Fyodor Nikiforovich, with his usual good nature, remarked: “Why should I judge them, or what?” The cultural demands of the lawyer are respected - he had a huge library for those times. Despising fiction, Fyodor Nikiforovich was fond of literature on law, history and philosophy. Among his favorite authors were Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Kuno Fischer and Georg Jellinek. A contemporary wrote: “Plevako had some kind of caring and tender attitude towards books - both his own and those of others. He compared them to children. He resented the sight of a torn, soiled, or disheveled book. He said that along with the existing Society for the Protection of Children from Cruelty, it was necessary to organize the Society for the Protection of Books from Cruelty. Despite the fact that Plevako highly valued his tomes, he freely gave them to read to his friends and just acquaintances. In this he was strikingly different from the “bookish miser” philosopher Rozanov, who said: “A book is not a girl, there is no need for her to go hand in hand.”

The famous orator was not only well-read, young years he was distinguished by an extraordinary memory, observation and sense of humor, which found expression in the cascades of puns, witticisms, parodies and epigrams that he composed both in prose and in verse. For a long time feuilletons by Fyodor Nikiforovich were published in the Moskovsky Leaf newspaper of the writer Nikolai Pastukhov, and in 1885 Plevako organized the publication of his own newspaper in Moscow called Life, but this enterprise "had no success and stopped in the tenth month." The circle of personal connections of the lawyer was wide. He was well acquainted with Turgenev and Shchedrin, Vrubel, and Stanislavsky, Yermolova and Chaliapin, as well as many other recognized artists, writers and artists. According to the memoirs of Pavel Rossiev, Leo Tolstoy often sent men to Plevako with the words: “Fyodor, wash the unfortunate.” The lawyer adored all kinds of spectacles from elite performances to folk festivals, but the greatest pleasure was given to him by visiting the two capital "temples of the arts" - the Mamontov Russian Opera and the Nemirovich-Danchenko and Stanislavsky Art Theater. Plevako also loved to travel and traveled all over Russia from the Urals to Warsaw, speaking at lawsuits in small and large cities of the country.
The first wife of Plevako worked as a folk teacher, and the marriage with her was very unsuccessful. Shortly after the birth of their son in 1877, they separated. And in 1879, a certain Maria Demidova, the wife of a well-known flax industrialist, turned to Plevako for legal assistance. A few months after meeting the lawyer, she, taking five children, moved to Fyodor Nikiforovich on Novinsky Boulevard. All her children became relatives for Plevako, later they had three more - a daughter, Varvara, and two sons. The divorce proceedings of Maria Demidova against Vasily Demidov dragged on for twenty years, since the manufacturer flatly refused to let go ex-spouse. With Maria Andreevna, Fedor Nikiforovich lived in harmony and harmony for the rest of his life. It is noteworthy that Plevako's son from his first marriage and one of the sons from his second later became well-known lawyers and worked in Moscow. Even more remarkable is that both of them were called Sergeis.

It is necessary to note one more feature of Fedor Nikiforovich - all his life the lawyer was a deeply religious person and even brought scientific justification under his faith. Plevako regularly attended church, observed religious rites, loved to baptize children of all ranks and classes, served as a church warden in the Assumption Cathedral, and also tried to reconcile the “blasphemous” position of Leo Tolstoy with the provisions of the official church. And in 1904, Fyodor Nikiforovich even met with the Pope and had a long conversation with him about the unity of God and that Orthodox and Catholics are obliged to live in good harmony.

At the end of his life, namely in 1905, Fyodor Nikiforovich turned to the topic of politics. The tsar's manifesto of October 17 inspired him with the illusion that civil liberties were approaching in Russia, and he rushed to power with youthful enthusiasm. First of all, Plevako asked the well-known politician and lawyer Vasily Maklakov to add him to the lists of members of the Constitutional Democratic Party. However, he refused, reasonably noting that "party discipline and Plevako are incompatible concepts." Then Fyodor Nikiforovich joined the ranks of the Octobrists. Subsequently, he was elected to the third State Duma, in which, with the naivete of an amateur politician, he urged his colleagues to replace "the words about freedom with the words of free workers" (this speech in the Duma, held in November 1907, was his first and last). It is also known that Plevako thought over the project of transforming the royal title in order to emphasize that Nikolai was no longer an absolute Russian tsar, but a limited monarch. However, he did not dare to declare this from the Duma rostrum.

Plevako died in Moscow on January 5, 1909 from a heart attack at the age of sixty-seven. All of Russia responded to the death of an outstanding speaker, but Muscovites were especially grieved, many of whom believed that there were five main attractions in the Russian capital: Tretyakov Gallery, St. Basil's Cathedral, "Tsar Cannon", "Tsar Bell" and Fedor Plevako. The newspaper "Rannee Utro" put it very briefly and precisely: "Russia has lost its Cicero." Fedor Nikiforovich was buried with a colossal gathering of people of all conditions and strata in the cemetery of the Sorrowful Monastery. However, in the thirties of the last century, the remains of Plevako were reburied at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

Based on the materials of the book by N.A. Troitsky "Luminaries Russian advocacy"and the site pravo.ru.

One of the most famous lawyers in our history - Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako (1842 - 1908). He took part in the most famous processes of that time, including political ones, in particular, in the case of the Morozov strike of 1886.

Plevako was known for taking on the protection of both the rich and noble, and ordinary people, making no distinction between them and shining with his eloquence in the trials of the poor no less than in high-profile cases. Stories about the trials involving Plevako have survived to this day, turning into funny and witty anecdotes.

I took off my shoes!

Plevako defended a man accused of rape by a prostitute. The woman demanded a significant amount for the injury. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant lured her into a hotel room and raped her there. The man said that everything was in good agreement. The last word for Plevako.

"Gentlemen of the jury," he said. “If you award my client a fine, then I ask you to deduct from this amount the cost of washing the sheets that the plaintiff soiled with her shoes.”

The prostitute jumps up and shouts: “It's not true! I took off my shoes!!!

Laughter in the hall. The defendant is acquitted.

15 years of unfair reproach

One day, Plevako got a case about the murder of his wife by one peasant. Plevako came to court as usual, calm and confident of success, and without any papers and cribs. And so, when the turn came to the defense, Plevako stood up and said:

The noise in the hall began to subside. Plevako again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

There was dead silence in the hall. Lawyer again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

There was a slight rustle in the hall, but the speech did not begin. Again:

Gentlemen of the jury!
Here in the hall swept the discontented rumble of the long-awaited long-awaited spectacle of the people. And Plevako again:
- Gentlemen of the jury!

Here already the hall exploded with indignation, perceiving everything as a mockery of the respectable public. And from the podium again:

Gentlemen of the jury!

Something incredible has begun. The hall roared along with the judge, prosecutor and assessors. And finally, Plevako raised his hand, urging the people to calm down.

The hall froze, then burst into admiring applause. The man was acquitted.

20 minutes

Plevako's defense lawyer is very famous for the owner of a small shop, a semi-literate woman who violated the rules on trading hours and closed the trade 20 minutes later than it was supposed to, on the eve of some religious holiday. The court hearing in her case was scheduled for 10 o'clock. The court left 10 minutes late. Everyone was there, except for the defender - Plevako. The chairman of the court ordered to find Plevako. Ten minutes later, Plevako, without hurrying, entered the hall, calmly sat down at the place of protection and opened the briefcase. The chairman of the court reprimanded him for being late. Then Plevako pulled out his watch, looked at it and declared that it was only five past ten on his watch. The chairman pointed out to him that it was already 20 past ten on the wall clock. Plevako asked the chairman:

And how much is on your watch, Your Excellency?

The chairman looked and replied:

At my fifteen minutes past eleven.

Plevako turned to the prosecutor:

And on your watch, Mr. Prosecutor?

The prosecutor, obviously wishing to cause trouble for the defense counsel, replied with a sly smile:

It's already twenty-five past ten on my watch.

He could not know what kind of trap Plevako set up for him and how much he, the prosecutor, helped the defense.

The trial ended very quickly. Witnesses confirmed that the defendant closed the shop 20 minutes late. The prosecutor asked that the defendant be found guilty. The floor was given to Plevako. The speech lasted two minutes. He declared:

The defendant was indeed 20 minutes late. But, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, she is an old woman, illiterate, and does not know much about watches. We are literate and intelligent people. How are you doing with your watch? When the wall clock shows 20 minutes, the chairman has 15 minutes, and the prosecutor's clock has 25 minutes. Of course, the most faithful watch belongs to Mr. Prosecutor. So my watch was 20 minutes behind, which is why I was 20 minutes late. And I always considered my watch very accurate, because I have gold, Moser.

The jury deliberated for one minute and acquitted the defendant.

Absolution

Somehow one priest was tried for some offense. Plevako was asked before the court whether his defense speech was great? To which he replied that his entire speech would consist of one phrase.

And now, after the accusatory speech of the prosecutor, who demanded a decent punishment, it was the turn of the defense.
The lawyer stood up and said:

Lord! Remember how many sins your father has forgiven you in his life, so why don't we now forgive him a single sin?!!!

The audience's reaction was appropriate. Pop was acquitted.

Poor Russia!

One columned noblewoman, being ruined, having lost her husband and son, deprived of her estate for debts, lived as a hostess with some lady, then rented a room, and since she did not have a kettle to boil water, she stole it in the market. And she was judged by the crown court (as a noblewoman).

The prosecutor, seeing Plevako, decided: “Yeah. Now he will beat for pity, for the fact that this is a poor woman who has lost her husband, gone bankrupt ... I’ll play on this too. He came out and said: “Of course, I feel sorry for the woman, she lost her husband, son, etc., her heart bleeds, he himself is ready to go to prison instead of her, but ... Lord, the crown court. The point is in principle, she swung at the sacred foundation of our society - private property. Today she stole a kettle, and tomorrow a wagon, and the day after tomorrow something else. This is the destruction of the foundations of our state. And since everything starts small and grows into a huge one, that’s why I ask you to punish her, otherwise it threatens our state with huge disasters, the destruction of its foundations.

The prosecutor broke the applause. Plevako comes out to his place and suddenly turned around, went to the window, stood for a long time, looked. Hall in suspense: what is he watching? Plevako came out and said:

“Dear Crown Court! How many troubles Russia has undergone: Batu trampled it with horses, and the Teutonic knights raped mother Russia, twelve languages, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, approached and burned Moscow. How many misfortunes Russia has endured, but each time she rose, rose like a phoenix from the ashes. And now a new misfortune: the woman stole the teapot. Poor Russia! Is something going to happen to you now?"

Hall laughed. The woman was acquitted.

Don't dare to believe!

One Russian landowner ceded part of his land to the peasants, without formalizing it in any way. After many years, he changed his mind and took the land back. Outraged peasants rioted. They were put on trial. The jury consisted of the surrounding landowners, the rebels were threatened with hard labor. The famous lawyer Plevako undertook to defend them. He was silent throughout the whole process, and at the end demanded that the peasants be punished even more severely. "Why?" - did not understand the judge. Answer: "To forever wean the peasants from believing the word of a Russian nobleman." Some of the peasants were acquitted, the rest received minor punishments.

The Omen

Plevako is credited with the frequent use of the religious mood of jurors in the interests of clients. Once, speaking in the provincial district court, he agreed with the bell-ringer of the local church that he would begin the evangelization for mass with special precision.

The speech of the famous lawyer lasted several hours, and at the end Plevako exclaimed:

If my client is innocent, the Lord will give a sign about it!

And then the bells rang. The jurors crossed themselves. The meeting lasted several minutes, and the foreman announced a verdict of not guilty.

Fyodor Plevako was born on April 25, 1842. His parents were not married, so he was considered an illegitimate child. The young man was distinguished by remarkable abilities, mathematics was the easiest for him. Fedor sat all day long over books and without difficulty entered the Commercial School in Moscow. Alas, they failed to finish their studies - Plevako and his brother were expelled from educational institution as illegitimate. The father used all his connections to get his children admitted to the 1st Moscow Gymnasium. Then Fedor became a student at the law faculty of Moscow University. The teachers noted the young man's lively mind and predicted a bright future for him.

The young lawyer is quickly becoming one of the most sought after in Moscow. He was listened to with bated breath - Plevako, with his amazing oratorical gift, could convince anyone.

"His speech is even, soft, sincere."

He “adapted” the tone of his speech to the audience, appealing to both reason and feelings. Accurate images, conciseness and logical harmony - on the judicial platform, Fyodor Nikiforovich had no equal. However, he never prepared his speeches in advance. The audience was captivated by witty remarks, always said to the point. “The high-cheeked, angular face of the Kalmyk type with wide-set eyes, with unruly strands of long black hair, could be called ugly if it were not illuminated by inner beauty, which showed through either in a general animated expression, or in a kind, lion-like smile, or in fire and brilliance. talking eyes.

The audience was captivated by witty remarks, always said to the point

His movements were uneven and sometimes awkward; A lawyer's tailcoat sat clumsily on him, and his whispering voice seemed to run counter to his vocation as an orator. But in this voice there were notes of such strength and passion that he captured the listener and conquered him, ”wrote judge Anatoly Koni.

Postage stamp of Russia

This is how Anton Pavlovich Chekhov described the famous lawyer: “Plevako approaches the music stand, looks at the jury for half a minute and begins to speak. His speech is even, soft, sincere. Figurative expressions, good thoughts and other beauties are many sets. Diction climbs into the very soul, fire looks out of the eyes. No matter how much Plevako says, you can always listen to him without boredom ... ".

The lawyer was involved in high-profile case about the Morozov strike (1885). It was one of the largest strikes in history. Russian Empire. About 8000 thousand people became its participants. The authorities sent 3 battalions of soldiers and 500 Cossacks to suppress the strike. As a result, 33 people ended up in the dock, but they were acquitted by a jury. In his speeches, Plevako appealed to the feeling of compassion for the workers, exhausted by heavy physical labor. He has acted as defense counsel in labor unrest cases on several occasions.

Plevako, with his amazing oratorical gift, could convince anyone

Another brilliant speech by Fyodor Nikiforovich is connected with the rebellion of the peasants of one of the villages of the Tula province against the neighboring landowner, Count Bobrinsky. The rebellion was brutally suppressed, 34 "instigators" were put on trial. Plevako not only defended the defendants, but also paid them all legal expenses. The plight of the Tula peasants was proved by concrete figures. According to him, they lived "a hundred times harder than pre-reform slavery." "Poverty is hopeless,<…>lack of rights, shameless exploitation, leading everyone and everything to ruin - here they are, instigators! ”Said the lawyer.

Once, Plevako defended a saleswoman who violated the rule on trading and closed her shop 20 minutes later than what was required by law. Fedor Nikiforovich was 10 minutes late for the meeting. The prosecutor asked that the defendant be found guilty. “The defendant was indeed 20 minutes late. But, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, she is an old woman, illiterate, and does not know much about watches. We are literate and intelligent people. How are you doing with your watch? When the wall clock shows 20 minutes, the chairman has 15 minutes, and the prosecutor's clock has 25 minutes. Of course, Mr. Prosecutor has the most faithful watch. So my watch was 20 minutes behind, which is why I was 20 minutes late. And I always considered my watch to be very accurate, because I have gold, Moser, ”said Plevako. After his speech, the saleswoman was acquitted.

Abbess Mitrofania

Fyodor Nikiforovich also defended Mother Superior Mitrofania; She was accused of misappropriation of someone else's property. This case was widely reported in the press. The court ruled to deprive Mitrofaniya of her property and exile her to the Yenisei province, but her defenders succeeded in reducing the sentence of deportation to Stavropol. The outstanding lawyer died on January 5, 1909 in Moscow.