Humphrey Waldock

International Court of Justice (1979). From right: president Humphrey Waldock, vice-president Taslim Olawale Elias

Sir Claud Humphrey Meredith Waldock, CMG OBE QC (13 August 1904 – 15 August 1981) was a British jurist and international lawyer.

Education

Waldock attended Uppingham School. He went up to Brasenose College, Oxford and earned a hockey blue in 1926. He graduated with a BA in 1927 and completed the BCL in 1928.

Career

Waldock was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1928. He was a fellow at Barsenose and a lecturer in law from 1930 to 1947; and a lecturer in law at Oriel College from 1930 to 1939.

Humphrey Waldock served as the British judge in the European Court of Human Rights from 1966 until 1974 and in the International Court of Justice from 1973 until 1981. He was also the President of the ICJ between 1979 and 1981. Prior to joining the Court, he had served on the United Nations' International Law Commission from 1961 to 1972, and had also been Chichele Professor of Public International Law at All Souls College, Oxford.

The British lawyer and historian A. W. B. Simpson recalled that Waldock told him that international law was diplomacy under a different name and that with regard to the operations of the International Court of Justice, "it's all done in the corridors."

Personal life

Waldock married Ethel Beatrice Williams in 1934, with whom he had one son and one daughter. Towards the end of his life, Waldock lived in Lathbury Road, North Oxford. In his Who's Who entry, he expressed an interest in cricket, tennis, fishing and shooting.