le Plat, Jodocus
LE PLAT, JODOCUS
Canonist; b. Mechelen, Nov. 18, 1732; d. Koblenz, Aug. 6, 1810. He became professor of canon law at Louvain in 1775. Prior to this time he had already achieved notoriety in opposing the doctrine of the Pauline Privilege, which had the support of Benedict XIV and many illustrious theologians. He became a supporter of josephinism, which he introduced into Belgium. This incited such displeasure that he was forced in 1787 to flee to Holland, where he was received by the Jansenists with whom he collaborated in the Nouvelles Ecclesiastiques. He became rector of the Canon Law School in Koblenz in 1806. He secured the publication of the Commentaire of Van Espen on the Decretum, endeavoring to show the apocryphal canons. His other works include Institutionum iurisprudentiae ecclesiasticae (1780); Canones et Decreta S. S. oecumenici et generalis concilii Tridentini (Antwerp 1779); Dissertatio de sponsalibus et impedimentis matrimoniorum (1783); Monumentum concilii Tridentini (Louvain 1781–87).
Bibliography: r. naz, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, 7 v. (Paris 1935–65) 6:401–402.
[h. a. larroque]