HOVE, ALPHONSE van. — Belgian canon lawyer, born at Thielt (West Flanders) on 7 August 1872, died at Louvain on 27 July 1947. Extraordinary professor of ecclesiastical history (1898) and canon law (1900) in the schola minor of the Faculty of Theology at Louvain, he subsequently became ordinary professor of Belgian ecclesiastical law (1904–39) and public ecclesiastical law (1908–39) in the Faculty of Law, ordinary professor of introductory subjects in the Faculty of Canon Law (1908–47), and of school law in the Institute of Applied Pedagogy and Psychology (1924–39).
A scholar of distinction, H. was above all a jurist and canon lawyer in the classical and fullest sense. The author of numerous publications on varied subjects, he promoted the historical method in the study of canon law and championed its autonomy against interference from moral theology. His first five treatises in the Commentarium Lovaniense in CIC, conceived and promoted by him, are true masterpieces of high scientific value, namely: Prolegomena in CIC (Malines–Rome 1928: 2nd ed. ibid. 1945); De legibus ecclesiasticis (ibid. 1930); De consuetudine et temporis supputatione (ibid. 1933); De rescriptis (ibid. 1936); De privilegis et dispensationibus (ibid. 1939). He also wrote: Etude sur les conflits de juridiction dans le diocèse de Liège à l'époque d'Erard de la Mark (Louvain 1900). Co-founder of Ephemerides theologiae Lovaniense, he served as its editor for canon-law matters from the beginning (1924). He also contributed important studies to many other journals and to various encyclopedias (Cath. Enc., Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, DDC). He was consulted several times by the Commission for the Codification of Canon Law.
Zaccaria da San Mauro