kangaroo court
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kangaroo court
An unofficial court or a court that disregards current laws and conducts unfair trials. People who live under oppressive regimes are often treated harshly by corrupt kangaroo courts that don't abide by the law.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
kangaroo court
a bogus or illegal court. Is this a staff meeting or a kangaroo court? You have turned this interview into a kangaroo court.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
kangaroo court
A self-appointed tribunal that violates established legal procedure; also, a dishonest or incompetent court of law. For example, The rebels set up a kangaroo court and condemned the prisoners to summary execution, or That judge runs a kangaroo court-he tells rape victims they should have been more careful . This expression is thought to liken the jumping ability of kangaroos to a court that jumps to conclusions on an invalid basis. [Mid-1800s]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
a kangaroo court
A kangaroo court is a court that is created quickly and is not official, and often not fair. All kinds of strange people appeared to testify in the kangaroo court which the newspapers had set up. I've been shot at, beaten up my military police, and sentenced to life imprisonment by a kangaroo court.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012