# kangaroo court

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/kangaroo-court
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding, or a group of people which conducts such proceedings, which is without proper authority, and often acts abusively or decides unjustly.

## Examples

- The trial was a kangaroo court and everyone knew it.
- The committee had no real power to punish him, so he dismissed it as a kangaroo court.
- The angry neighbors organized a kangaroo court in the park to blame the gardener for the broken fence before he could even explain what happened.
- Convicted by a kangaroo court of wartime traitors, the dissident poet was exiled before dawn without ever seeing a real judge.

## Origin

From kangaroo + court. The etymology is uncertain; it has been suggested that the term draws a comparison between the leaping of a kangaroo and one of the following: * The 19th-century practice of itinerant judges moving from place to place on the American frontier and trying cases speedily and perfunctorily in order to get paid. * The use of irregular courts during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855) to decide claims of “jumping” (illegally occupying) mining claims. * The notion that a kangaroo court jumps to conclusions. (disputed)

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.