Justice Thomas Seeyal (April 2, 1957 - May 13, 2010) was an Associate Justice of the United Islands Supreme Court. He is the first person in that position to be of Indian extraction, and the first non-Caucasian justice. Born in Agra, India, Seeyal's family came to Georgeland in 1964. His father was a doctor. Seeyal graduated from the University of Mainland in 1990 with a law degree. After three years of working in the civil service, Seeyal was admitted to the bar in 1993 and became a justice of the Georgeland Family Court in 2001 after having served as Director of Public Prosecutions for Mainland 1996-2000 and West Mainland 2000-2001. Seeyal was appointed to the Supreme Court following George McKell's retirement in 2005. Seeyal was considered to be a very liberal judge, who rarely votes to overturn actions of the Liberal Democrat government. Justice Seeyal was also the youngest Supreme Court judge at the time of his appointment at the age of only 48.
On October 17, 2007, Seeyal was taken to hospital after suffering what was described as a "serious heart attack". He was currently hospitalised in a critical but stable condition. After a three-month recovery, Seeyal returned to work in January 2008.
On May 13, 2010, Justice Seeyal suffered a second heart attack at his Topstad home. Paramedics were unable to revive him and he died en route to St. Bethany's Hospital in Topstad at the age of only 53. His death created the second Supreme Court vacancy to be filled by a Conservative government since 1995 and the second to be filled under the Judicial Appointments Act 2008, under which an expert panel presents candidates to the government.
| Preceded by George McKell |
Associate Justice of the United Islands Supreme Court August 18, 2005-May 13, 2010 |
Succeeded by TBD |