Kangaroo court - wikipedia Kangaroo court For the song by Capital Cities, see Kangaroo Court ( song ). For the EP by Ritual, see Ritual ( band ). A kangaroo court is a court that ignores recognized standards of law or justice, and often carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides. The term may also apply to a court held by a legitimate judicial authority who intentionally disregards the court 's legal or ethical obligations. The defendants in such courts are often denied access to legal representation and in some cases, proper defence. Prejudicial bias of the decision - maker or from political decree are among the most publicized causes of kangaroo courts. Such proceedings are often held to give the appearance of a fair and just trial, even though the verdict was already decided before the trial actually began. A kangaroo court could also develop when the structure and operation of the forum result in an inferior brand of adjudication. A common example of this is when institutional disputants ( `` repeat players '' ) have excessive and unfair structural advantages over individual disputants ( `` one - shot players '' ). Contents 1 Etymology 2 As informal proceedings in sports 3 Examples 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Etymology The term kangaroo court is often erroneously believed to have its origin from Australia 's courts while it was a penal colony. However, the first published instance of the term is from an American source in the year 1853. Some sources suggest that it may have been popularized during the California Gold Rush of 1849, along with mustang court, as a description of the hastily carried - out proceedings used to deal with the issue of claim jumping miners. Ostensibly the term comes from the notion of justice proceeding `` by leaps '', like a kangaroo -- in other words, `` jumping over '' ( intentionally ignoring ) evidence that would be in favour of the defendant. Another possibility is that the phrase could refer to the pouch of a kangaroo, meaning the court is in someone 's pocket. The phrase is popular in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand and is still in common use. As informal proceedings in sports The term is sometimes used without any negative connotation. For example, many Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball teams have a kangaroo court to punish players for errors and other mistakes on the field, as well as for being late for a game or practice, not wearing proper attire to road games, or having a messy locker in the clubhouse. 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. Examples Some examples of adjudication venues described as kangaroo courts are the People 's Court ( Volksgerichtshof ) of Nazi Germany that convicted people who were suspected of being involved with the failed plot to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. Another example is the trial of Pol Pot and his brother Ieng San by the People 's Revolutionary Tribunal in Cambodia in August 1979. After a lengthy trial with a duration of five days, both were sentenced to death in absentia on August 19, 1979. Conclusive evidence showed that the verdicts and the sentencing papers had been prepared in advance of the trial. Relying on this evidence the United Nations proceeded to delegitimize the tribunal stating that it did not comply with standards of international law. See also Law portal Extrajudicial killing Drumhead court - martial Judicial misconduct Lawfare Legal abuse Lynching Mock trial Presumption of guilt Show trial Star Chamber International Arbitration References Jump up ^ `` kangaroo court ''. Merriam - Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2011 - 11 - 11. Jump up ^ Stempel, Jeffrey W. 8 Nev. L.J. 251 ( 2007 - 2008 ) Keeping Arbitrations from becoming Kangaroo Courts ^ Jump up to : Adams, Cecil. `` What 's the origin of `` kangaroo court '' ? Is `` kangaroo '' aborigine for `` I do n't know '' ? ``. The Straight Dope. Retrieved 1 October 2012. Jump up ^ `` kangaroo court ''. Oxford English Dictionary. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ `` Kangaroo Court ''. Etymology Online. Jump up ^ `` Minor League Baseball In this court most anything goes ''. The Bulletin. Jump up ^ `` Kangaroo Court ''. Legal Dictionary. Jump up ^ Bouton, Jim ( 1990 ). Ball Four ( 2nd ed. ). Wiley. ISBN 0 - 02 - 030665 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Schlund - Vials, C.J. ( 2012 ), War, Genocide and Justice, Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press Jump up ^ Chandler, David ( 2008 ). `` Cambodia Deals with its Past : Collective Memory, Demonisation and Induced Amnesia ''. Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 9 ( 2 -- 3 ) : 355 -- 369. doi : 10.1080 / 14690760802094933. Retrieved 2018 - 06 - 12. External links Look up kangaroo court in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Etymology Online The Straight Dope : What 's the origin of `` kangaroo court '' ? What 's a Kangaroo Court ? Miscarriage of justice Types of misconduct Prosecutorial misconduct Police misconduct Selective prosecution Malicious prosecution Selective enforcement Abuse of process Attorney misconduct Abuse of discretion Entrapment False arrest Gaming the system Legal malpractice Kangaroo court Sharp practice Jury tampering Witness tampering Brady disclosure Spoliation of evidence False evidence Forced confession False accusation of rape False allegation of child sexual abuse Police perjury False accusation Mistaken identity Eyewitness memory Misinformation effect Tampering with evidence Wrongful convictions List of wrongful convictions in the United States List of exonerated death row inmates Miscarriage of justice List of miscarriage of justice cases Overturned convictions in the United States Wrongful execution Advocacy Innocence Project National Registry of Exonerations Investigating Innocence Related concepts Legal ethics Exculpatory evidence Right to a fair trial Race in the United States criminal justice system Capital punishment in the United States Innocent prisoner 's dilemma Racial profiling Loophole Ineffective assistance of counsel Show trial Actual innocence Cross-race effect Eyewitness memory Eyewitness identification Equal Protection Clause Batson v. Kentucky List of United States death row inmates Prosecutor 's fallacy Innocence Protection Act Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kangaroo_court&oldid=865694898 '' Categories : Metaphors referring to animals Pejoratives Informal legal terminology Types of trials Courts by type Abuse of the legal system Vigilantism Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from October 2018 Articles with permanently dead external links All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Deutsch Français 한국어 Nederlands 日本 語 Português Русский Svenska ไทย Tiếng Việt 中文 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 25 October 2018, at 15 : 33 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. 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Question: where does the phrase kangaroo court come from
Answer: an American source