Michael Dishington Scott

Michael Dishington Scott was Chief Justice of Tonga.

Michael Dishington Scott
Chief Justice of Tonga
In office 27 September 2010 – January 2015
Preceded by	Tony Ford
Succeeded by	Owen Paulsen

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]