Why can final constants in Java be overridden?

Question

Consider the following interface in Java:

public interface I {
    public final String KEY = \"a\";
}

And the following class:

Answer 1

As a design consideration,

public interface I {
    public final String KEY = "a";
}

The static methods always returns the parent key.

public class A implements I {
    public String KEY = "b";

    public String getKey() {
        return KEY; // returns "b"
    }

    public static String getParentKey(){
        return KEY; // returns "a"
    }
}

Just like Jom has noticed. The design of static methods using re-defined interface members could be a heavy problem. In general, try to avoid use the same name for the constant.