Why use of static enum?

Question

I was trying to find the difference between declaring an enum static?

public class Example {
  public static enum Days {
    MONDAY(1);

    private int day;
    private Days(int day) {
      this.day = day;
    } 

    public int getDayNum() {
      return day;
    }
  }
}

And the one below

public class Example {
  public enum Days {
    MONDAY(1);

    private int day;
    private Days(int day) {
      this.day = day;
    } 

    public int getDayNum() {
      return day;
    }
  }
}

I can access both of the above the exact same way

Example.Days.MONDAY.getDayNum();

This is because an enum is static, final. So whats the difference? When to use either of the above?

Answer 1

As per the JLS 8.9:

Nested enum types are implicitly static. It is permissible to explicitly declare a nested enum type to be static.

This implies that it is impossible to define a local (§14.3) enum, or to define an enum in an inner class (§8.1.3).