ABSTRACT
If there is an oldest question concerning political representation it might be whether representatives should act as trustees or delegates to their constituents. If there is a “new insight” into this question, it is that the distinction between “trustees” and “delegates” obscures three subordinate questions about which we are primarily concerned:
1 The representative’s source of judgement: Should representatives be selfreliant, or should they depend upon their constituents’ views about how to vote?
