Kangaroo Court

[FionaS]

what are the origins of this phrase?

[lovelylad]

First recorded use seems to have been in 1863 in the USA, where it was a popular idiom for a dodgy court in which legal principles are disregarded. Apparently 'to kangaroo' means to convict someone on false evidence, though whether this came from the court or the kangaroo court arose from this verb, I don't know. Anyway, it's possible that the term came from the idea that the justice of such courts jumps to conclusions rather in the way that a kangaroo hops. Convinced???