What’s The Real Story Behind the Term ‘Kangaroo Court?’
Hopefully you’ll never be tried by a kangaroo court. And no,
that doesn’t mean the jury will be made up of boxing marsupials.
A ‘kangaroo court’ is a law court set up to look like justice is
being served, when in fact the proceedings are a farce, held
only for the sake of appearances. It’s also held in baseball
clubhouses to hand down penalties for poor play. There seems to
be several theories out there as to how this expression got
started. Let’s take a look at a few. An Australian Origin? Since
kangaroos are found only in Australia, you would think the term
does in fact come from Down Under. When settlers were first
making their way across the Outback, they would hold ‘hopper’s
courts’ from time to time, when there was some legal trouble
that needed resolving. ‘Hopper’ most likely refers to kangaroos,
but unfortunately there is a lack of written documentation, or
evidence, that proves this term was in fact used by early
European pioneers in Australia,