title: what exactly is the reason that we cannot declare static methods in [public] inner classes unless those inner classes are also declared static?azi
body: <blockquote>
    <p><strong>Possible Duplicate:</strong><br>
    <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/975134/why-cant-we-have-static-method-in-an-inner-class">Why cant we have static method in an inner class?</a>  </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  
  
  <p>Hi all, in java what exactly is the reason that we cannot declare static methods in [public] inner classes unless those inner classes are also declared static?</p>
  
  <p>Amazingly top level classes can have any number of static methods without the need to have any special modifier</p>