code: private static void checkViolations(List<String> givenViolations,
  			List<String> expectedValidationViolations) {
  
  		/*
  		 * check if number of expected violations matches the given violations
  		 */
  		Assert.assertEquals(
  				String.format(
  						"number of expected validation violations (%s) does not match the number of given violations (%s)",
  						StringUtils.join(expectedValidationViolations,
  								LIST_DELIMITER), StringUtils.join(
  								givenViolations, LIST_DELIMITER)),
  				expectedValidationViolations.size(), givenViolations.size());
  
  		/*
  		 * check if the set of given violations matches the expected violations
  		 */
  		boolean listsAreCongruent = true;
  
  		List<String> givenButNotExpected = new ArrayList<String>();
  
  		for (String givenViolation : givenViolations) {
  
  			if (!expectedValidationViolations.contains(givenViolation)) {
  				listsAreCongruent = false;
  				givenButNotExpected.add(givenViolation);
  			}
  		}
  
  		Assert.assertTrue(
  				String.format(
  						"the violations (%s) where given but not expected: all given violations (%s), all expected violations (%s)",
  						StringUtils.join(givenButNotExpected, LIST_DELIMITER),
  						StringUtils.join(givenViolations, LIST_DELIMITER),
  						StringUtils.join(expectedValidationViolations,
  								LIST_DELIMITER)), listsAreCongruent);
  	}
docs: Helper method doing the checking work.
  
  @param givenViolations
  @param expectedValidationViolations