Excuse me if I make a point that may have already been addressed. By the Third Age elves and hobbits seem to have evolved the sort of society that wasn't very legalistic in the sense of requiring a lot of written rules and regulations. Consensus seems to have been the operative principle at work for both people. I suspect that no known human society can really be said to conform to any such model. While we have Tolkien's word that Hobbits were very particular about wills and deeds of sale, the emphasis seems to have been on unambiguous transfer of property, not enriching a bunch of lawyers or collecting taxes for greedy politicians to buy votes with. There may have been hobbit notaries but there were probably no hobbit lawyers. Since death for the elves was not necessarily a universal experience, and even when it occurred was of a different nature than death for men or hobbits, I would posit that the elves may not have had as strict a rule concerning such matters as we do. A title like "High King" might have been bestowed where it could have done the most good, according to a majority of elves at the time. In a sense the kingship would be elective, though no formal counting of ballots might ever take place. Instead it may simply have been a case of "Unless I hear any strong objections to the contrary, Gil-galad is the next High King. End of discussion."
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