Kangaroo court
A
kangaroo court is a 'judicial' proceeding that denies proper procedure in the name of expediency; a fraudulent or unjust trial where the decision has essentially been made in advance, usually for the purpose of providing a conviction, either going through the motions of manipulated procedure or allowing no defence at all.
A kangaroo court or
kangaroo trial, also known as
drumhead court-martial or
Drumhead trial, is a sham
legal proceeding or
court. The term is often applied to courts subjectively judged as such, while others consider the court to be legitimate and legal. A kangaroo court may be a court that has had its integrity compromised; for example, if the
judge is not impartial and refuses to be
recused.
It may also be an elaborately scripted event intended to appear fair while having the outcome predetermined from the start. Terms meaning "
show trial", like the German
Schauprozess, indicate the result is fixed before (usually guilty): the 'trial' is just for show (e.g. Stalin's kangaroo trials against his "enemies",
Roland Freisler's "processes" against the enemies of the national-socialist regime etc.)
Although it might seem to have obviously been coined in
Australia, the phrase seems to have originated during the
California Gold Rush, with the first written reference in
1853 in a Texas context (also
mustang court), from notion of proceeding 'by leaps' like the agile marsupial. It is possible that the phrase arose out of a combination of informal courts convened to deal with "claim jumpers," the many Australian participants in the Gold Rush and a bit of word play.
Examples of alleged kangaroo courts amounting to 'judicial lynching' include the
Kansas evolution hearings.[
1]
*Kangaroo court is also used as a derogatory term to describe the dispute resolution mechanism used by
prison inmates within the prison, based upon the pecking order of the prisoners.
*The term is sometimes used without any negative connotation. For example, a
baseball team might have a kangaroo court to punish players for
errors and other mistakes on the field. Fines are allotted, and at the end of the year, the money collected is given to
charity. The organization may also use the money for a team party at the end of the season.
*The formal name of an initiation practice for freshmen at
Quincy University, Illinois, consisting of various forms of
hazing in a single public event.
*The video game magazine
Amiga Power had a feature called 'Kangaroo Court' in its later years, criticising game features it disliked, such as contrived fantasy plots and games which were inferior clones of other games.
*
Lynching*
Show trialCourt is one
collective noun for a mob or troop of
kangaroos
*
Etymology Online*
The Straight Dope: What's the origin of "kangaroo court"?
