Michael Dishington Scott

Michael Dishington Scott
Chief Justice of Tonga
In office
27 September 2010 – January 2015
Preceded byTony Ford
Succeeded byOwen Paulsen

Michael Dishington Scott was Chief Justice of Tonga.

Scott is a British national with a long career in the Pacific.[1] He has previously served as a judge in Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, and served for 14 years as a judge on the High Court of Fiji.[2] As a High Court judge in Fiji, in Yabaki v President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands, he ruled that the interim government established in the wake of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état was legal.[3] This ruling was later overturned on appeal.[4] From 2004 to 2007 he was a judge of the Fijian Court of Appeal.[2]

He was appointed Chief Justice of Tonga in August 2010, replacing Tony Ford.[2] He assumed the role on 27 September 2010.[1] He was replaced by Owen Paulsen in January 2015.[5] In June 2017 he was appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Tonga as a Law Lord.[6][7]

  1. ^ a b "Chief Justice Scott starts today". Matangi Tonga. 27 September 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "Appointment Of Chief Justice Of Tonga". Scoop Media. 29 August 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
  3. ^ Yabaki v President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands (2001) FJHC 116.
  4. ^ Yabaki v President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands (2003) FJCA 3.
  5. ^ "Tonga's new Chief Justice begins job". RNZ. 14 January 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  6. ^ "King appoints three new Law Lords". Matangi Tonga. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Three new Law Lords appointed by His Majesty". Kaniva Tonga. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2022.