Constitutional aspects regarding the institution of the ombudsman

• Author: Marta Claudia Cliza
• Position: Lecturer, Ph.D., Faculty of Low, ?Nicolae Titulescu' University, Bucharest
• Pages: 163-168

Marta Claudia Cliza

163

LESIJ NR. XVIII, VOL. 2/2011

CONSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS REGARDING

THE INSTITUTION OF THE OMBUDSMAN

Marta Claudia CLIZA1∗

Abstract

The significant increase of the legislative power's tasks and implicitly of the public

administration, due to the more emphatic complexity of the economic and social life at the level of

world's states, determines that every moment citizens encounter different public authority and

administrative structures but with whom they do not always communicate so facile.2.

Keywords: Constitutional Court, ombudsman, Government, the Romanian constitutional

law, Parliament

Introduction

This particular institution is Swedish based, also known as „ombudsman”3 and has occurred

for the first time in the year 1766. It has been created in Sweden through the Constitution from

1809 and has been working permanently ever since in this country, as an additional instrument for

controlling the executive by the Parliament.4.

Under the constitutional compared aspect, one can notice a few characteristics of this

institution.

The Ombudsman has a general authority, i.e. that of receiving all complaints from citizens

against the excess and abuses of the administration, of investigating and intervening in front of the

Government. In some cases it also has a special competent, namely that of controlling certain

services and even the army, as is the case of Germany. In some states, it may decide whether to

place a public servant under accusation or give a warning, especially in the constitutional systems

where it functions as a parliamentary prosecutor. Generally it cannot control the activity

performed by the Government's members.

Therefore, for instance in Denmark, the Ombudsman is chosen by the Folketing in order to

control the civil, military and municipal administration, being entitled to proceed in certain

investigations that may take place as a consequence of its initiative or an individual complaint.

In Finland, the Ombudsman is appointed by Eduskunta, with similar attributions as the

Danish one, having in addition the right to control that the courts of law are compliant with the

lawfulness.

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∗ Lecturer, Ph.D., Faculty of Low, „Nicolae Titulescu” Univ ersity, Bucharest (e-mail: cliza_claudia@yahoo.com).

2 Corneliu Manda, Ioan Popescu Sl<niceanu, Ovidiu Predescu, Cezar Corneliu Manda,- „Ombudsmanul-

instituYie fundamental< a statului de drept”, (Lumina Lex Publishing house, Bucharest, 1997), p.12

3 Spread in other countries under various names: parliamentary commissioner (England), people's defender

(Spain), public mediator (France), parliamentary guarantor of human rights (Hungary), ombudsman (Romania), etc

4 Corneliu Manda, Ioan Popescu Sl<niceanu, Ovidiu Predescu, Cezar Corneliu Manda,- „Ombudsmanul-

instituYie fundamental< a statului de drept”, (Lumina Lex publishing house, Bucharest, 1997), p.7