title: Hibernate Validator java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl
body: <p>I have read <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24957513/exception-in-hibernate-validator-nested-exception-is-java-lang-noclassdeffounde">this </a> and <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34764240/nested-exception-is-java-lang-noclassdeffounderror-could-not-initialize-class-o">this</a>, but that didn't help...</p>
  
  <p>I am using hibernate validator with the following versions/dependencies:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;dependency&gt;
      &lt;groupId&gt;org.hibernate&lt;/groupId&gt;
      &lt;artifactId&gt;hibernate-validator&lt;/artifactId&gt;
      &lt;version&gt;5.4.1.FINAL&lt;/version&gt;
  &lt;/dependency&gt;
  &lt;dependency&gt;
      &lt;groupId&gt;javax.validation&lt;/groupId&gt;
      &lt;artifactId&gt;validation-api&lt;/artifactId&gt;
      &lt;version&gt;1.1.0.Final&lt;/version&gt;
  &lt;/dependency&gt;
  &lt;dependency&gt;
      &lt;groupId&gt;org.glassfish&lt;/groupId&gt;
      &lt;artifactId&gt;javax.el&lt;/artifactId&gt;
      &lt;version&gt;3.0.1-b08&lt;/version&gt;
  &lt;/dependency&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I thought I'm doing everything correctly, and my logs (with verbose:class as a flag) tell me that:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>[Loaded org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl from
    file:.../hibernate-validator-5.4.1.Final.jar] </p>
    
    <p>[Loaded javax.validation.Validation from file:.../validation-api-1.1.0.Final.jar]</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>But later at runtime, when I use </p>
  
  <pre><code>Validator validator = Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory().getValidator();
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get the classic error:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class org.hibernate.validator.internal.engine.ConfigurationImpl</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I also tried downgrading to hibernate-validator 4.3.1 and javax.validation-api 1.0.0, but the error weirdly enough remained the same.</p>
  
  <p>I have loads of other dependencies in this project(e.g. Spring etc.) , but as far as I can see, none that use hibernate-validator or the javax validation api. (If that were the case, I'd also see them loaded in the logs, wouldn't I?)</p>
  
  <p>Is there any help?</p>