@Test
public void test() throws URISyntaxException {
    final URI uri = new URI( "file://c:/temp/test/ham.and.eggs" );
    new File( uri );        // IllegalArgumentException thrown here
}

/**
 * Resolves the specified URI, and returns the file 
 * represented by the URI.
 *
 * @param uri The URI for which to return an absolute path.
 * @return The {@link File} instance represented by the
 *    specified URI.
 * @throws IllegalArgumentException <ul><li>The URI cannot 
 *    be null.</li><li>Wrong URI scheme for path resolution;
 *    only file:// URIs are supported.</li></ul>
 */
public static File getFile( URI uri )
    throws IllegalArgumentException {
    if ( uri == null )
        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
            "The URI cannot be null." );


    if ( !"file".equals( uri.getScheme() ) )
        throw new IllegalArgumentException( "Wrong URI " + 
            "scheme for path resolution, expected \"file\" " +
            "and got \"" + uri.getScheme() + "\"" );

    // Workaround for the following bug: 
    // http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=5086147
    // Remove extra slashes after the scheme part.
    if ( uri.getAuthority() != null )
        try {
            uri = new URI( uri.toString().replace( 
                "file://", "file:/" ) );
        } catch ( URISyntaxException e ) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException( "The specified " +
                "URI contains an authority, but could not be " +
                "normalized.", e );
        }


    return new File( uri );
}