Anecdote about the mineralogist Alexander Ushakov, who as a juror acquitted every defendant

There is an anecdote about the nineteenth-century Russian writer and mineralogist Alexander Pavlovich Ushakov. Ushakov was the kindest of men, wrote several important works on mineralogy and was reputed a connoisseur of the stage and the ballet. But he held rather original principles, calling idiots all who did not love the "Petersburg Gazette", the theatre and women, and geniuses all who shared his passion for these things.

Once Ushakov had to serve for a whole week as a juror at the district court. When he was asked whether he had acquitted many, Alexander Pavlovich replied that he had acquitted everyone. Not because everyone was in the right, but on the principle that all men are rogues, some more, some less, and that in every crime everyone is to blame.