ABSTRACT
Trustee theory is essentially a ‘pre-democratic’ theory. Its origins pre-date 1832, a year that was crucial to the democratisation of the franchise, as well as to the development of parliamentary government itself in Britain. After 1832 conceptions of ‘who’ and ‘what’ were to be represented changed gradually but irrevocably-as, indeed, did the ‘purpose’ of representation itself. The ‘who’ increasingly became ‘all of the people’, the ‘what’ became their opinions and the ‘purpose’ became control over decision makers. This marked a stark contrast with pre-1832 notions of trusteeship which conceived of the ‘who’ as ‘people with economic interests’, the ‘what’ as objective interests, and the ‘purpose’ as the making of decisions for the nation. The different bases and purposes of representation before 1832 have led many to argue that trustee theory, as outlined most famously by Edmund Burke, is outdated-it is no more than an archaeological relic from a bygone age. Yet, trustee theory cannot be dismissed so summarily as it is still alive and kicking in Britain in the 1990s.
