Cynrychiolaeth gyfrannol

Gellir olrhain cynrychiolaeth gyfrannol yn ôl o leiaf i John Stuart Mill yn 1861 pan sygrifennodd draethawd Considerations on Representative Government:

In a representative body actually deliberating, the minority must of course be overruled; and in an equal democracy, the majority of the people, through their representatives, will outvote and prevail over the minority and their representatives. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all? ... Is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard? Nothing but habit and old association can reconcile any reasonable being to the needless injustice. In a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority of the representatives, but a minority of the electors would always have a minority of the representatives. Man for man, they would be as fully represented as the majority. Unless they are, there is not equal government ... there is a part whose fair and equal share of influence in the representation is withheld from them, contrary to all just government, but, above all, contrary to the principle of democracy, which professes equality as its very root and foundation.^[1]

Mae'r rhan fwyaf o academyddion gwleidyddol heddiw'n derbyn syniadau Mill,^[6] ac y dylai pob rhan o gymdeithas gael eu cynrychioli.