Fernand-Gustave-Gaston Labori (April 18, 1860 – March 14, 1917) was a French attorney. He was born in
Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
and educated at the
Faculty of Law of Paris.
In his professional life, he defended the accused in some of the most prominent political cases of his day. Among his noted clients was
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...
, who was eventually acquitted of
treason. During the Dreyfus trial, Labori was the victim of an assassination attempt which hospitalized him for a week. The attacker was never identified.
Legal career
Labori was elected second secrétaire de
Conférence du barreau de Paris, and he was the defence counsel for:
* Anarchist
Auguste Vaillant, who threw a bomb into the French
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
, injuring 20 people, and who was sentenced to death
*
Émile Zola in 1898 in the Dreyfus trial
* Captain
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...
, at his court martial in
Rennes
Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...
in 1899
*
Thérèse Humbert, in the case of the ''Crawford inheritance'', who pretended to be an heir of American millionaire Robert Crawford; the case sometimes was described as 'the swindle of the century'
*
Henriette Caillaux in 1914, who was the wife of former Prime Minister of France Joseph Caillaux
His speeches were regarded as masterpieces of forensic eloquence.
Death
He is buried at the
Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...
.
References
Bibliography
* ''Labori, ses notes manuscrites, sa vie.'' Editor V. Attinger. Author Marguerite Labori, 1947, Paris,
* ''Labori, pour Zola, pour Dreyfus, contre la terre entière, un avocat.'' Editor L. Audibert, Authors Thierry Lévy and Jean-Pierre Royer, Paris 2006,
External links
*
*
Portrait du centre d'études du 19e siècle français - Université de TorontoEtat des Archives de Fernand LaboriListe biliographique des principales plaidoiries sur Criminocorpus - site du CNRSPortrait sur La vie rémoise
1860 births
1917 deaths
People associated with the Dreyfus affair
People from Reims
19th-century French lawyers
20th-century French lawyers
{{France-law-bio-stub