The Committee noted the judgment of the Constitutional Court in S v Makwanyane and Another 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC), in which it was held that the death penalty was unconstitutional as it inter alia violated the fundamental right not to be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading form of punishment, the right to dignity and the right to life as protected in the Bill of Rights. The Committee also agreed with the view of the Court in respect of public opinion on the death penalty in terms of which the Court held that "[i]f public opinion were to be decisive there would be no need for constitutional adjudication. The protection of rights could then be left to Parliament, which has a mandate from the public, and is answerable to the public for the way its mandate is exercised, but this would be a return to parliamentary sovereignty, and a retreat from the new legal order established by the 1993 Constitution. By the same token the issue of the constitutionality of capital punishment cannot be referred to a referendum, in which a majority view would prevail over the wishes of any minority. The very reason for establishing the new legal order, and for vesting the power of judicial review of all legislation in the courts, was to protect the rights of minorities and others who cannot protect their rights adequately through the democratic process. Those who are entitled to claim this protection include the social outcasts and marginalized people of our society. It is only if there is a willingness to protect the worst and the weakest amongst us, that all of us can be secure that our own rights will be protected" (paragraph 88).