And sorry for interrupting but this was an interesting read :)

Cheers

That Saruman would dissent rather than likewise recusing himself only goes to show what kind of person he is. Hopefully he’s impeached before he further damages the court’s credibility.

A few of the possible issues this would give rise to:

If decided under the Law of Mordor, a realm generally recognized (if loathed) by the other realms of Middle-Earth. As dictator, he could serve as judge and jury in his own case, and the counsel for the opposition would be at a disadvantage as the fairer races consider it an ill omen for the words of the Black Tongue (the official language of Mordor) to be spoken aloud. Of course, following his defeat, Sauron and the Realm of Mordor exist only in pretense.

Aragon, as King Elessar of Arnor, Gondor, and High King of the Reunited Kingdom, could claim sovereign immunity if suit was brought under the laws of these realms.

Additionally, the One Ring traveled and changed possession in a variety of realms – including various modern States, city-states, and private domains (Principalities? I doubt any state would presume to claim Tom Bombadil’s land, yet his “country” consists solely of his home and the surrounding environs) – and the various claimants and the locations where possession begin and end occur in different countries as well.

This is complicated by the fact that the legal schemas vary widely from place to place – consider, for instance, the nature of the inhabitants of such varied locales as the Shire, Rivendell, Fangorn Forest, and the Lonely Mountain (either before or after the return of the King Under the Mountain and the demise of Smaug) and how the legal regimes would reflect such varying natures.