Abstract
This chapter advances a theoretical basis for the development of a public ombud institution that is progressive and democratic. In so doing, it seeks to answer the question of what sort of public ombud we want and need. It offers a critical account of the apparent consensus on ‘modern ombudsman practice’, characterised by the prioritisation of the individual user, system and dispute resolution. It associates ‘modern ombudsman practice’ of this sort with a jurisprudential mentality, with the values of the ‘new public management’ and with the ideal of the quasi-judicial ombud and its priorities of negative individual rights, boundaries and adjudication. As an alternative, it proposes the democratic ombud founded upon the ‘demosprudential’ values of community, human rights principle and deliberative practice. It concludes that the demosprudential path is the necessary means of attaining ‘the People’s Ombud’ and an ombud that is true to its democratic roots. This will require the acquisition by the ombud of different powers, as well as a willingness and capacity to use them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For further discussion of the general argument advanced here, see Doyle and O’Brien (2019).
References
Abraham, A. (2008). The Ombudsman and “Paths to Justice”: A Just Alternative or Just an Alternative? Public Law, p. 1.
Adler, M. (2018). Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment: Benefit Sanctions in the UK. London: Palgrave Pivot.
AJTC (2007). Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
Allen, D. (2004). Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since. Brown v. Board of Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Baxi, U. (2016). Law, Politics, and Constitutional Hegemony: The Supreme Court, Jurisprudence, and Demosprudence. In S. Choudhry, M. Khosla, & P. B. Mehta (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution. Oxford: OUP.
Berlin, I. (1969). Two Concepts of Liberty. In I. Berlin (Ed.), Four Essays on Liberty. Oxford: OUP.
Berman, G., & Feinblatt, J. (2001). Problem-Solving Courts: A Brief Primer. New York: Center for Court Innovation.
Busck, L. (1995). The History and Development of the Institution of Ombudsman. In H. Gammeltoft-Hansen (Ed.), The Danish Ombudsman. Copenhagen: The Danish Ombudsman.
Chayes, A. (1976). The Role of the Judge in Public Law Litigation. Harvard Law Review, 89, 1281.
Creutzfeldt, N. (2018). Ombudsmen and ADR: A Comparative Study of Informal Justice in Europe. Geneva: Palgrave Macmillan.
Crick, B. (1965). The Prospects for Parliamentary Reform. Political Quarterly, 36, 333.
Donaldson, L. (2018). Report of the Independent Adviser to the Clinical Advice Review Commissioned by the Parliamentary and Healthcare Ombudsman. London: PHSO.
Dorf, M. C., & Sabel, C. F. (1998). A Constitution of Democratic Experimentalism. Columbia Law Review, 98, 267.
Doyle, M. (2019). A Place at the Table: A Report on Young People’s Participation in Resolving Disputes About Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Colchester: UKAJI.
Doyle, M., & O’Brien, N. (2019). Reimagining Administrative Justice: Human Rights in Small Places. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Drewry, G. (2009). The Judicialisation of “Administrative” Tribunals in the UK: From Hewart to Leggatt. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 28, 45.
Fredman, S. (2008). Human Rights Transformed: Positive Rights and Positive Duties. Oxford: OUP.
Fuller, L. (1981). The Forms and Limits of Adjudication. In K. L. Winston (Ed.), The Principles of Social Order. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Genn, H. (2008). Judging Civil Justice. Hamlyn Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gill, C., Mullen, T., & Vivian, N. (2020). The Managerial Ombuds. Modern Law Review. Forthcoming.
Gregory, R., & Giddings, P. (2002). The Ombudsman, the Citizen and Parliament: A History of the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioners. London: Politico’s Publishing.
Guinier, L. (2009). Courting the People: Demosprudence and the Law/Politics Divide. Boston University Law Review, 89, 539.
Guinier, L., & Torres, G. (2014). Changing the Wind: Notes Towards a Demosprudence of Law and Social Movements. Yale Law Journal, 123, 2742.
Gutmann, A., & Thompson, D. (2004). Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Harlow, C. (1978). Ombudsmen in Search of a Role. Modern Law Review, 41, 446.
Harlow, C., & Rawlings, R. (2009). Law and Administration (3rd ed.). Cambridge: CUP.
Hepple, B., Coussey, M., & Choudhury, T. (2000). Equality: A New Framework: Report of the Independent Review of the Enforcement of UK Anti-discrimination Legislation. Oxford: Hart.
Hertogh, M. (2001). Coercion, Co-operation and Control: Understanding the Policy Impact of Administrative Courts and the Ombudsman in the Netherlands. Law and Policy, 23, 47.
Holm, N. E. (1995). The Ombudsman – A Gift from Scandinavia to the World. In H. Gammeltoft-Hansen (Ed.), The Danish Ombudsman. Copenhagen: The Danish Ombudsman.
Hurwitz, S. (1960, May 12). Interview with H.W.R. Wade and J.A.G.Griffiths. The Listener.
Kirkham, R. (2018). Safeguarding Procedural Fairness or Imposing Excessive Legalism? Retrieved November 13, 2019, from https://ukaji.org/2018/03/05/safeguarding-procedural-fairness-or-imposing-excessive-legalism/.
Klein, A. (2007–2008). Judging as Nudging: New Governance Approaches for the Enforcement of Constitutional Social and Economic Rights. Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 39, 351.
Law Commission. (2011). Public Services Ombudsmen. Report no 329. London: Law Commission.
Menkel-Meadow, C. (2004–2005). The Lawyer’s Role(s) in Deliberative Democracy. Nevada Law Journal, 5, 347.
Menkel-Meadow, C. (2006). Deliberative Democracy and Dispute Resolution: Two Theories and Practices of Participation in the Polity. Dispute Resolution Magazine, p. 18.
Morris Jones, W. H. (1949). Socialism and Bureaucracy. London: Fabian Society.
Nonet, P., & Selznick, P. (1978). Toward Responsive Law: Law and Society in Transition. New York: Harper Torch.
O’Brien, N. (2009). Ombudsmen and Social Rights Adjudication. Public Law, p. 466.
O’Brien, N. (2011). Law and “The Good Life”: Learning Disability, Equality and Healthcare in the UK. The Equal Rights Review, 6, 83.
O’Brien, N. (2016). Disability Discrimination Law in the United Kingdom and the New Civil Rights History: The Contribution of Caroline Gooding. Journal of Law and Society, 43, 444.
O’Brien, N., & Thompson, B. (2010). Human Rights and Accountability in the UK: Deliberative Democracy and the Role of the Ombudsman. European Human Rights Law Review, 5, 504.
Pegram, T. (2008). Accountability in Hostile Times: The Case of the Peruvian Human Rights Ombudsman 1996–2001. Journal of Latin American Studies, 40, 51.
Pegram, T. (2013). The Bolivian Human Rights Ombudsman and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In E. Brems, G. de Beco, & W. Vandenhole (Eds.), National Human Rights Institutions, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Intersentia: Antwerp.
Peruzzotti, E. (2012). The Societalization of Horizontal Accountability: Rights Advocacy and the Defensor del Pueblo de la Nacion in Argentina. In R. Goodman & T. Pegram (Eds.), Human Rights, State Compliance, and Social Change. Cambridge: CUP.
Ray, B. (2011). Demosprudence in Comparative Perspective. Stanford Journal of International Law, 47, 111.
Resnick, J. (1982). Managerial Judges. Harvard Law Review, 96, 924.
Sabel, C. F., & Simon, W. H. (2004). Destabilization Rights: How Public Law Litigation Succeeds. Harvard Law Review, 117, 1016.
Shonfield, A. (1965). Modern Capitalism: the changing balance of public and private power (London, OUP: 1965).
Simon, W. H. (2003). Solving Problems v Claiming Rights: The Pragmatist Challenge to Legal Liberalism. Columbia Law School Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Group 03-58.
Simon, W. H. (2009). The Warren Court, Legalism and Democracy: Sketch for a Critique in a Style Learned from Morton Horwitz. Columbia Law School Public Law and Legal Theory Working Group Paper 09-196.
Stein, R. (1971). Accountability in the NHS. Political Quarterly, 42, 363.
Sugarman, D. (1986). Legal Theory, the Common Law Mind and the Making of the Textbook Tradition. In W. Twining (Ed.), Legal Theory and Common Law. Oxford: Blackwell.
Tyndall, P., Mitchell C., & Gill, C. (2018) Value for Money Study: Report of the Independent Peer Review of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/Value_for_Money_report_final.pdf.
Utley, T. E. (1961). Occasion for Ombudsman. London: Christopher Johnson.
Whyatt, S. J. (1961). The Citizen and the Administration: The Redress of Grievances. London: Stevens & Sons.
Williams, R. (1961). The Long Revolution. London: Chatto and Windus.
Women and Equalities Committee. (2019). Enforcing the Equality Act: The Law and the Role of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. HC 1470. Tenth Report of Session 2017–19.
Zacka, B. (2017). When the State Meets the Street: Public Service and Moral Agency. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
O’Brien, N. (2020). The Public Services Ombud and the Claims of Democracy. In: Kirkham, R., Gill, C. (eds) A Manifesto for Ombudsman Reform. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40612-7_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40611-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40612-7
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)