Editing Victor D'Hondt

{{Short description|Belgian lawyer and jurist (1841–1901)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Victor Joseph Auguste D'Hondt
| image              = Victor D'Hondt (1841-1901) .jpg
| image_size         = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1841|11|20}}
| birth_place        = [[Ghent]], Belgium
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|1901|5|30|1841|11|20}}
| death_place        = Ghent, Belgium
| nationality        = Belgian
| other_names        = 
| known_for          = Electoral voting system
| occupation         = Businessman, jurist, lawyer, mathematician
}}
'''Victor Joseph Auguste D'Hondt''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈvɪktɔr ˈtɔnt|lang}}; 20 November 1841 – 30 May 1901)<ref name="beatse">{{cite book|last1=Beatse|first1=Georges|url=https://lib.ugent.be/catalog/rug01:000130196|title=Université de Gand. Liber memorialis: notices biographiques|year=1913|pages=428–429|language=fr|chapter=Victor D’Hondt -- Notice et portrait}}</ref> was a Belgian [[lawyer]] and [[jurist]] of civil law at [[Ghent University]]. He devised a procedure, the [[D'Hondt method]], which he first described in 1878, for allocating seats to candidates in [[party-list proportional representation]] elections. The method has been adopted by a number of countries, including [[Albania]], [[Argentina]], [[Armenia]], [[Austria]], [[Belgium]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Chile]], [[Colombia]], [[Croatia]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Denmark]], [[Ecuador]], [[Fiji]], [[Finland]], [[Israel]], [[Japan]], [[North Macedonia]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Northern Ireland]], [[Paraguay]], [[Poland]], [[Portugal]], [[Scotland]], [[Slovenia]], [[Serbia]], [[Spain]], [[Switzerland]], [[Turkey]], [[Iceland]], [[Uruguay]] and [[Wales]]. A modified D'Hondt system is used for elections to the [[London Assembly]] and the [[Scottish Parliament]].

Victor D’Hondt was an influential proponent of proportional representation in Belgium. He published several articles on [[proportional representation]] and was founding member of the ''Association Réformiste Belge pour l'Adoption de la Representation Proportionnelle'' in 1881. From 1885 he served as professor of civil and fiscal law at the [[Ghent University|University of Ghent]]. In 1896 he was awarded the title  ''Officer'' in the [[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Belgian Order of Leopold]].<ref name="beatse" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Pukelsheim|first=Friedrich|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1021196335|title=Proportional Representation: Apportionment Methods and Their Applications|publisher=Springer|year=2017|isbn=978-3-319-64707-4|edition=Second|pages=305–306|oclc=1021196335}}</ref>

== Publications ==
* ''Question électorale. La représentation proportionnelle des partis''. Bruxelles, 1878.
* ''Système pratique et raisonné de représentation proportionnelle''. Bruxelles, 1882.
* ''Formule du minimum dans la représentation proportionnelle''. In Représentation proportionnelle—Revue mensuelle 2, pages 117–130, 1883
* ''Exposé du système pratique de représentation proportionnelle adopté par le Comité de l’Association Réformiste Belge''. Gand, 1885.

==References==
<references />

== Further reading ==

* {{cite journal |last1=Carlier |first1=Jules |date=1901 |title=Victor D'Hondt, Albert Nyssens – Notice et portrait |journal=Représentation proportionnelle – Revue mensuelle |volume=20 |pages=29–41|oclc=472588196}}
* {{Cite book|last=Carstairs|first=Andrew McLaren|title=A short history of electoral systems in Western Europe|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=978-1-135-02678-3|oclc=842262419}}
* {{Cite book|last=Pukelsheim|first=Friedrich|title=Proportional Representation: Apportionment Methods and Their Applications|publisher=Springer|year=2017|isbn=978-3-319-64707-4|edition=Second|oclc=1021196335}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhondt, Victor}}
[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:19th-century Belgian lawyers]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Ghent University]]
[[Category:1901 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Ghent]]