Priyasath Dep PC ( ; born October 12, 1953) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n judge and lawyer. He was the 45th

Chief Justice of Sri Lanka The chief justice of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head of the judiciary of Sri Lanka and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Established in 1801, the chief justice is one of ten Supreme Court justices; the other nine are ...

and a former

Solicitor General of Sri Lanka The solicitor general of Sri Lanka is a post subordinate to the Attorney General of Sri Lanka, attorney general of Sri Lanka. The solicitor general of Sri Lanka assists the attorney general, and is assisted by four additional solicitors general. ...

Early life and education

Dep's father was Arthur C. Dep a police officer, who retired as a Deputy Inspector General of Police. Educated at St. Joseph's College,

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, where he excelled in studies, athletics, rugby, and soccer. Dep obtained a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in Development Studies at the

University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...

. He represented the university in rugby and cricket.

Legal career

Studying law at the

Sri Lanka Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enrol as an Attorney-at-Law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Le ...

, he was called to bar in October 1976 and began his legal practice. In January 1978, he joined the Attorney General's Department as a State Counsel. In February 1989 he was promoted to Senior State Counsel and in February 1996 he was promoted to Deputy Solicitor General and Additional Solicitor General in October 1999. He was appointed a

President's Counsel A president's counsel ( postnominal PC) is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the President of Sri Lanka as an individual "learned in the law". The term is an honorific that replaced the Queen's Counsel (QC), which Sri Lanka ceased appointing ...

in April 2000. In 2007, he was appointed Solicitor General and served in this post till 2011. During his tenure in the Attorney General’s Department, Dep won a scholarship by the

Dutch Government The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...

that enabled him to acquire a post-graduate diploma in

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

at the

International Institute of Social Studies The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam is an independent international graduate school of policy-oriented social science. ISS was established in 1952 by Dutch universities and the Netherlands Mini ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. As a prosecutor he was involved in the Amarapala (Deputy Director of Customs) Murder case, Inoka Sevwandi Murder and the Sujith Prasanna Perera (Superintendent of Customs) Murder. He had served as the head of the Criminal Division of the Attorney General’s Department.

Judaical career

In 2011, he left the Attorney General’s Department, when he was appointed to a

Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka This is a list of justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. They are listed in the order in which they took the judicial oath of office and commenced their term. List of justices 19th century 20th century 21st century See als ...

. On February 27, 2017 he was nominated by the Constitutional Council as the 45th

and was sworn in in March.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dep, Priyasath Chief justices of Sri Lanka Puisne justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka Sinhalese people 20th-century Sri Lankan people 21st-century Sri Lankan people Solicitors general of Sri Lanka Living people 1953 births Sri Lankan judges on the courts of Fiji Supreme Court of Fiji justices