The Sir Ivor Jennings Memorial Oration 2026, organized by the Department of Law of the University of Peradeniya, was held on 31 August 2026 at the Senate Room. The Oration, entitled ‘Reflections on the Evolution of Constitutional Ideas and their Critiques’, was delivered by Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy.

Dr. Coomaraswamy was Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict. She was also the first UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women. Dr. Coomaraswamy has been the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and a Member of the Constitutional Council. An accomplished author, she is a prominent expert in the field of constitutional law, having published a number of works including Sri Lanka - The Crisis of the Anglo-American Constitutional Tradition in a Developing Society (Vikas, 1984) and Ideology and the Constitution: Essays on Constitutional Jurisprudence (ICES/Konark, 1997)

Inaugurated in 2019, the Sir Ivor Jennings Memorial Oration commemorates the legacy of Sir Ivor Jennings, the pre-eminent constitutional law scholar who made an invaluable contribution to higher education in Sri Lanka as the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya. Held annually, the Oration serves as a platform for eminent public law scholars and practitioners to share cutting-edge ideas on public law. The eminent list of past speakers includes Prof. Savitri Goonesekere, former Vice Chancellor and Emeritus Professor of Law of the University of Colombo; Prof. Philip Alston, a renowned authority on human rights from New York University; Hon. Justice S Muralidhar, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Orissa, India; and Dr. Shahdeen Malik, an eminent public law scholar from Bangladesh.

The event was attended by the Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Prof. M.A.K.L. Dissanayake, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Terrance Madhujith, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ranjith Pallegama, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dr. Prabath Ekanayake, academic staff members, invited guests and students. A number of guests – both from Sri Lanka and overseas – joined the event via Zoom.

The text of the Sir Ivor Jennings Memorial Oration 2026 is available here.