Term 1970-1973 Name C. Jenks | Resting place Geneva | |
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Full Name Clarence Wilfred Jenks Born March 7, 1909 ( 1909-03-07 ) Bootle, Lancashire, England Died October 9, 1973, Rome, Italy Books The common law of mankind |
C. Wilfred Jenks (7 March 1909 – 9 October 1973) was an international lawyer and director-general of the International Labour Organization (1970–1973).
Contents
- Early life and education
- ILO
- International legal scholar
- Personal and family life
- Awards and honours
- Publications
- References

Early life and education
Clarence Wilfred Jenks was born 7 March 1909 in Bootle, Lancashire. His father, a merchant navy officer, drowned when Jenks was eleven and he assumed responsibility with his mother for the family.
Jenks was educated in state schools in Liverpool and, in 1926, he won an open scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and, in 1930, was president of the Cambridge Union. He was treasurer, British Universities League of Nations Society and chair, Cambridge University League of Nations Union. He twice won a scholarship to the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. He took a double first in history (1929) and law (1931) winning the Cecil Peace Prize in 1928 for a study on international arbitration.
ILO
Upon finishing his studies at Cambridge, Jenks joined the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva as a legal adviser in the Legal Division. He would become Assistant Director-General, Deputy Director-General, principal Deputy Director-General and Director-General. As Director-General, he was preceded by David A. Morse and succeeded by Francis Blanchard.
In 1936, he was called to the English bar by Gray's Inn.
In 1944, with acting Director Edward J. Phelan, he drafted the Declaration of Philadelphia which restated the ILO's aims and purposes, envisioning the ILO as the master economic agency among the specialised international bodies. He was part of the ILO delegation at a number of international conferences including:
Jenks carried for many years the main responsibility for the ILO's work in international labour standards and human rights.
International legal scholar
Jenks was "one of the most prominent and prolific writers on international law of his time. His ... "Some constitutional problems of international organization" ... was for long the unrivalled source of instruction on that subject for professionals and academics alike."
Jenks was Professor, Hague Academy of International Law in 1950, 1955 and 1966. He was Storrs Lecturer in Jurisprudence, Yale University, 1965.
Personal and family life
In 1949, Jenks married Jane Louise Broverman of New York. They had two sons.
On 9 October 1973 Jenks was attending a session of the Institut de Droit International in Rome when he had a fatal heart attack. He was buried in Geneva.
Awards and honours
C. Wilfred Jenks was awarded the following honours: 1928 Cecil Peace Prize 1959 American Society of International Law award 1967 Hon LLD, University of Edinburgh 1971 Hon LLD, University of Delhi 1971 Hon LLD, Seoul National University 1971 Hon LLD, University of La Plata 1972 Hon LLD, University of Costa Rica
Jenks was an honorary fellow of Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge and an honorary professor of Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos de Lima and University of Lima.
Publications
Contributor to British Year Book of International Law and to legal journals.