In the public interest
為了公眾的利益
The Scandinavian countries are much admired all over the world for their enlightened social policies. Sweden has evolved an excellent system for protecting the individual citizen from highhanded or incompetent public officers. The system has worked so well, that it has been adopted in other countries too.
The Swedes were the first to recognize that public official like civil servants, police officers, health inspectors or tax-collectors can make mistakes or act over-zealously in the belief that they are serving the public. As long ago as 1809, the Swedish Parliament introduced a scheme to safeguard the interest of the individual. A parliamentary committee representing all political parties appoints a person who is suitably qualified to investigate private grievances against the State. The official title of the person is 'Justiteombudsman', but the Swedes commonly refer to him as the 'J.O.' or 'Ombudsman'. The Ombudsman is not subject to political pressure. He investigates complaints large and small that come to him from all levels of society. As complaints must be made in writing, the Ombudsman receives an average of 1,200 letters a year. He has eight lawyer assistants to help him and examines every single letter in detail. There is nothing secretive about the Ombudsman's work for his correspondence is open to public inspection. If a citizen's complaint is justified, the Ombudsman will act on his behalf. The action he takes varies according to the nature of the complaint. He may gently reprimand an official or even suggest to parliament that a law the altered. The following case is a typical example of the Ombudsman's work.
A foreigner living in a Swedish village wrote to the Ombudsman complaining that he had been ill-treated by the police, simply because he was a foreigner. The Ombudsman immediately wrote to the Chief of Police in the district asking him to send a record of the case. There was nothing in the record to show that the foreigner's complaint was justified and the Chief of Police strongly denied the accusation. It was impossible for the Ombudsman to take action, but when he received a similar complaint from another foreigner in the same village, he immediately sent one of his layers to investigate the matter. The lawyer ascertained that a policeman had indeed dealt roughly with foreigners on several occasions. The fact that the policeman was prejudiced against foreigners could not be recorded in the official files. It was only possible for the Ombudsman to find this out by sending one of his representatives to check the facts. The policeman in question was severely reprimanded and was informed that if any further complaints were lodged against him, he would prosecuted. The Ombudsman's prompt action at once put an end to an unpleasant practice which might have gone unnoticed.
斯堪的納維亞半島各國實(shí)行開明的社會(huì)政策，受到全世界的推崇。在瑞典，已逐漸形成了一種完善的制度以保護(hù)每個(gè)公民不受專橫的和不稱職的政府官員的欺壓。由于這種制度行之有效，已被其他國家采納。
是瑞典人首先認(rèn)識(shí)到政府工作人員如文職人員、警官、衛(wèi)生稽查員、稅務(wù)人員等等也會(huì)犯錯(cuò)誤或者自以為在為公眾服務(wù)而把事情做過了頭。早在1809年，瑞典論會(huì)就建立一個(gè)保護(hù)公民利益的制度。議會(huì)內(nèi)有一個(gè)代表各政黨利益的委員會(huì)，由它委派一位稱職的人選專門調(diào)查個(gè)人對(duì)國家的意見。此人官銜為“司法特派員”，但瑞典人一般管他叫“J.O.”，即“司法特派員”。司法特派員不受任何政治壓力的制約。他聽取社會(huì)各階層的各種大小意見，并進(jìn)行調(diào)查。由于意見均需用書面形式提出，司法特派員每年平均收到1,200封信。他有8位律師作他的助手協(xié)助工作，每封信都詳細(xì)批閱。司法特派員的工作沒有什么秘密可言，他的信件是公開的，供公眾監(jiān)督。如果公民的意見正確，司法特派員便為他伸張正義。司法特員采取的行動(dòng)因意見的性質(zhì)不同而有所不同。他可以善意地批評(píng)某位官員，也可以甚至向議會(huì)提議修改某項(xiàng)法律。下述事件是司法特派員工作的一個(gè)典型例子。
一個(gè)住在瑞典鄉(xiāng)村的外國人寫信給司法特派員，抱怨說他受到警察的虐待，原因就是因?yàn)樗莻�(gè)外國人。司法特派員立即寫信給當(dāng)?shù)鼐炀珠L(zhǎng)，請(qǐng)他寄送與此事有關(guān)的材料。材料中沒有任何文字記載證明外國人所說的情況符合事實(shí)，警察局長(zhǎng)矢口否認(rèn)這一指控。司法特派員難以處理。但是，當(dāng)他又收到住在同一村莊的另一個(gè)外國人寫的一封內(nèi)容類似的投訴信時(shí)，他立即派出一位律師前去調(diào)查。律師證實(shí)有個(gè)警察確實(shí)多次粗魯?shù)貙?duì)待外國人。警察歧視外國人的事在官方檔案中不可能加以記載，司法特派員只有派他的代表去核對(duì)事實(shí)才能了解真相。當(dāng)事的警察受到嚴(yán)厲的斥責(zé)，并被告知，如果再有人投訴他，他將受到起訴。司法特派員及時(shí)采取的行動(dòng)，迅速制止了這一起不愉快的事件，不然這件事可能因未得到人們注意而不了了之。
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