Population and its representatives in the government: evolution of relations (historical and legal aspects)

Introduction: the article is devoted to the analysis of legal aspects of relations between representatives of the population in the institutions of the state power and the population that elected the representatives from the historical perspective, as well as to the consideration of significance of these relations in modern conditions. Purpose: to analyze relations between the elected representatives of the population and electors, from antiquity till today, in terms of obligatoriness of mandates and the possibility to recall elects (imperative mandate) or to have no elects (free mandate); to evaluate the importance of these relations today. Methods: the research is based on historicism as an important component of the dialectical approach, the system method and the comparative legal method. Results: it has been discovered that in antique times the people's elect only had a responsibility of moral character, in medieval Europe and in Russia the representation of the population was very limited. It has been found out that the question of the juridical fixation of the mutual obligations of the people's representatives and the population has only become essential in modern times. Conclusions: the notions of the imperative and free mandates do not reflect the variety of real relations between the elect and electors. In real history, there has always been a combination of both, depending on specific conditions. In modern conditions, the elements of real accountability and the recall of a deputy can take place only at the level of local self-government.