kangaroo court

[Bernard W. Kane]

Mathews Dictionary of Americanisms UChicago Press 1951 s.v. kangaroo has:
*kangaroo, n. In combs.: (2) court, an unauthorized or irregular court
conducted with either a disregard for or a perversion of legal rights and
procedure, as a mock court held by prisoners in a jail, or an irregularly
conducted court in a frontier district" and supplies early quote: "1853
P.PAXTON Yankee in Texas 205 By a unanimous vote, Judge G.... was elected to
the bench, and the 'Mustang' or 'Kangaroo Court' regularly organized." Dr.
R. L. Chapman was apparently referring to the cite in Mathews in his Dict
American Slang definition.

Bernie Kane
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