This does not compile: template<> class foo<int> { static_assert(false, "bad"); }; Reason: "false" is not a dependent name, so the compiler is allow

This does not compile: template<> class foo<int> { static_assert(false, "bad"); }; Reason: "false" is not a dependent name, so the compiler is allowed to check the static_assert when the template is being declared. (Of course since this is a full specialization, there are no dependent names.) See C++14 Standard §14.6.2 (Dependent Names) or http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/dependent_name http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/dependent_name (not sure how accurate that page is, though). P.S: It might compile with Microsoft's Visual Studio, but only because that compiler doesn't implement two-phase name lookup, effectively turning every name into a dependent name.