ABSTRACT
It was seen in Chapter 1 that administrative law is concerned with the legal control of administrative action, that is, control by the courts. Chapters 9-11 and 13 have shown that such control is centred on the power of the High Court to review the legality of those mainly statutory functions exercised by the administrative agencies. However, to complete the picture of the controls available in respect of the administrative agencies and their functions it is necessary to appreciate that there are certain non-legal remedies which do not depend on the courts. Such non-legal remedies include the administrative remedies examined in Chapter 12 and the so-called ombudsman remedy which is to be examined in the present chapter. The various ombudsmen who have been established throughout the UK deal with and investigate complaints of injustice in consequence of maladministration. Any such complaint must relate to maladministration by an administrative agency where that agency is undertaking its administrative functions almost always within the scope of its statutory powers. The term ‘ombudsman’ is of Scandinavian origin and refers to a person who deals with grievances.
