Chancellor of Justice: Encyclopedia II - Chancellor of Justice - Sweden

Chancellor of Justice - Sweden

In Sweden, the Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern) is a government official charged with representing the Swedish government in various legal matters as the government's ombudsman. The office was created through a decree by Charles XII in 1713.

The Chancellor is appointed by the Government of Sweden and serves at the pleasure of the cabinet without belonging to the spoils system, the longest term in office this far having been 22 years. The present Chancellor of Justice is Göran Lambertz, who entered office on October 1, 2001.

Chancellor of Justice - History

In 1713 King Charles XII, preoccupied with fighting the Great Northern War, was residing in Bendery and had not set foot in Sweden in over a decade. In order to reestablish the domestic administration, which had fallen into disarray, he instituted the office of His Majesty's Supreme Ombudsman. The office commenced operation on October 23, 1714 and the role the official was to ensure that judges and public officials acted in accordance with the laws, proficiently discharged their tasks, and if not he could initiate legal proceedings for dereliction of duty. This was the origin of the Ombudsman institution.

The current name was adopted in 1719, by the Instrument of Government of the same year. The Chancellor performed an important task as ombudsman, but only acted on behalf of the royal government. In the Instrument of Government of 1809 a counterpart to act on the behalf of Parliament was instituted as the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

Chancellor of Justice - Duties

The duties of the Chancellor of Justice can be summed up to:

• be the State's representative in trials and other legal disputes;
• receive complaints and claims for damages directed to the State and decide on financial compensation for such damages;
• be the Government's counsellor in legal matters;
• act as the Government's ombudsman in the supervision of the authorities and the civil servants, and to take action in cases of abuse;
• ensure that the limits of the freedom of the press and other media are not transgressed and to act as the only public prosecutor in cases regarding offences agains the freedom of the press and other media;
• act as the guardian for the protection of privacy in different fields.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Sweden", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki