My first and most appropriate acknowledgement is to Mrs Shirley Watson for giving me permission to edit the papers of her father, which I first examined in the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library (then located at 28 Russell Square) in July 2005. I am so grateful to Mrs Watson for her generous hospitality in discussing her formidable father, illuminating me with family tales, beckoning memorabilia, and rare photographs, and enlightening me on several points of her father's career and life. As Jennings’ only surviving child she, along with her son, Michael Watson, and daughter, Rebecca Caine, has been gracious enough to provide me with the support I needed to complete this task without ever seeking to control it.

An international constitutional authority

Historical influence

Beyond Britain and law

Constitution-making matters

Selected documents

‘Anecdotes of D.S.’, c.1952

‘Notes on the formation of a new Government, March 1952’

Note of proposal to dismiss Sir John Kotelawala, 15 September 1952

‘The Queen of Ceylon’, c.1953

Notes on the royal visit to Ceylon, 1954

Letter to the United Nations Commissioner in Eritrea, 3 December 1951

Letter to the United Nations Commissioner in Eritrea, 4 December 1951

‘Status of Gibraltar’, c.1965

The ‘Malayan Saga’: diary from the Reid Commission, 1956–1957

‘Constitutional Changes Implicit in the Terms of Reference’ of the Reid Commission, 23 August 1956

The State Constitutions, 31 August 1956

‘The Malta Integration Bill’, 16 November 1957

Confidential note for the British Foreign Office on the framing of the new Constitution of Nepal, c.1958, never sent

‘Explanatory memorandum on the Constitution of Nepal’, c.1958

Confidential notes on Nepal, April 1958

Letter to the Governor-General of New Zealand, 2 November 1957

‘The position in Pakistan’, 29 October 1954

‘The political situation in Pakistan’, c.1955

Kashmir Plan, 3 August 1955

Opinion given to the Office of the High Commissioner for Rhodesia and Nyasaland working on behalf of the Monckton Commission,1 Rhodesia House, London, 23 July 1960

Diary from the London Conference reviewing the Federation's Constitution, 1960–1961

‘Singapore Chronicle’ diary, 1956

‘Singapore Constitutional Conference post-mortem’, c.1956

‘The Union of South Africa as a Republic’, c.1960

Diary: ‘Sudan Visit, 1958’

‘The problem of the Southern provinces – some possible solutions’, undated

‘Republicanism in Asia’, 1952–1953

‘Constitutional issues in South Asia’, undated

‘Some Asian prime ministers’, 1955

‘Constitution-making in Arcady’, undated

‘Constitution-making’, undated

‘Magna Carta and constitutionalism in the Commonwealth’, 1964–196587