The Groovy compiler gives a compile error for a static initialiser, unless the { appears on the same line as static... In other words, static { // do something } compiles, but static { // do something else } gives a compile error. For example, the attached file gives a compile error: $ groovy Test.groovy org.codehaus.groovy.control.MultipleCompilationErrorsException: startup failed, Test.groovy: 3: unexpected token: static @ line 3, column 3. static ^ 1 error