local scope in Java

Question

Why is it that curly braces do not define a separate local scope in Java? I was expecting this to be a feature common to the main curly brace languages (C, C++, Java, C#).

class LocalScopeTester
{
    public static void main(String... args)
    {
        Dog mine = new Dog("fido");
        if (mine.getName().equals("ace"))
        {
            Dog mine = new Dog("spot"); // error: duplicate local
        }
        else
        {
            Dog mine = new Dog("barkley"); // error: duplicate local
            {
                Dog mine = new Dog("boy"); // error: duplicate local
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

They do define a separate local scope, but you still cannot mask local variables from a parent scope (but you can of course mask instance variables).

But you can define new variables (with different names) and their scope will be limited to within the braces.

Answer 2

Run this and you'll get an error that the variable is already declared as int i=5 and one cannot redefine. So, the Parent never takes what its child got. So, what if the Parent sacrifices and removes his declaration of int i=5?

public class Ouch { 
    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        int i=5;

        for(int i=0;i<5;i++);
        for(int i=0;i<5;i++);
    } 
} 

Now, the Parent sacrificed its declaration and both the children enjoy and the code runs successfully.

public class Ouch { 
    public static void main(String[] args) { 

        //int i=5;

        for(int i=0;i<5;i++);
        for(int i=0;i<5;i++);
    } 
}