diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 2d9a043..e6403f1 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
 
+S3method(validate_value,default)
+S3method(validate_value,email)
+S3method(validate_value,id)
+S3method(validate_value,natural_number_list)
+S3method(validate_value,text)
+S3method(validate_value,url)
 export(Dataset)
 export(Distribution)
 export(create_dataset)
diff --git a/R/dataset.R b/R/dataset.R
index 9d65dc3..2478fae 100644
--- a/R/dataset.R
+++ b/R/dataset.R
@@ -28,33 +28,33 @@ Dataset <- S7::new_class(
   properties = list(
     # ID des Datasets (wird serverseitig generiert)
     id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # Titel optional (wird nur bei Erstellung geprüft)
     title = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text
+      validator = "text"
     ),
 
     # Organisation ID (required)
     organisation_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = FALSE
     ),
 
     # Optionale Beschreibung und Kontakt
     description = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text,
+      validator = "text",
       max_length = 10000L
     ),
     contact_email = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_email
+      validator = "email"
     ),
 
     # Weblink
     landing_page = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_url
+      validator = "url"
     ),
 
     # Zeitpunkte (optional)
@@ -66,24 +66,24 @@ Dataset <- S7::new_class(
 
     # Relations- und Katalog-IDs
     keyword_ids = prop_list(
-      validator = validate_natural_number_list
+      validator = "natural_number_list"
     ),
     zh_web_catalog_ids = prop_list(
-      validator = validate_natural_number_list
+      validator = "natural_number_list"
     ),
     relation_ids = prop_list(
-      validator = validate_natural_number_list
+      validator = "natural_number_list"
     ),
     see_also_ids = prop_list(
-      validator = validate_natural_number_list
+      validator = "natural_number_list"
     ),
     theme_ids = prop_list(
-      validator = validate_natural_number_list
+      validator = "natural_number_list"
     ),
 
     # Periodizität
     periodicity_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     )
   ),
diff --git a/R/distribution.R b/R/distribution.R
index 42fd871..03787f2 100644
--- a/R/distribution.R
+++ b/R/distribution.R
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ Distribution <- S7::new_class(
 
     # Title (required)
     title = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text,
+      validator = "text",
       max_length = 1000L
     ),
 
     # Dataset ID (required)
     dataset_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = FALSE
     ),
 
@@ -48,13 +48,13 @@ Distribution <- S7::new_class(
 
     # Sort order (optional)
     sort_order = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # Description (optional)
     description = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text,
+      validator = "text",
       max_length = 10000L
     ),
 
@@ -63,62 +63,54 @@ Distribution <- S7::new_class(
 
     # Access URL (optional)
     access_url = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_url
+      validator = "url"
     ),
 
     # Identifier (optional)
-    identifier = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text
-    ),
+    identifier = prop_string(),
 
     # Right (optional)
-    right = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text
-    ),
+    right = prop_string(),
 
     # Issued (optional)
     issued = prop_posixct(),
 
     # Byte size (optional)
-    byte_size = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_bytesize
-    ),
+    byte_size = prop_numeric(),
 
     # Status ID (optional)
     status_id = prop_numeric(
       default = 1,
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # License ID (optional)
     license_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # Format ID (optional)
     format_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # Media Type ID (optional)
     media_type_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # Periodicity ID (optional)
     periodicity_id = prop_numeric(
-      validator = validate_id,
+      validator = "id",
       allow_na = TRUE
     ),
 
     # File Upload ID (optional)
-    file_upload_id = prop_string(
-      validator = validate_text
-    )
+    file_upload_id = prop_string()
   ),
   constructor = function(
       title = S7::class_missing,
diff --git a/R/properties.R b/R/properties.R
index 45ddd6e..6347ea4 100644
--- a/R/properties.R
+++ b/R/properties.R
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ prop_string <- function(default = NULL, validator = NULL, ...) {
     } else {
       default
     },
-    validator = function(value) validator(value, ...)
+    validator = function(value) validate(value, validator, ...)
   )
 }
 
@@ -31,12 +31,13 @@ prop_numeric <- function(default = NULL, validator = NULL, ...) {
     } else {
       default
     },
-    validator = function(value) validator(value, ...)
+    validator = function(value) validate(value, validator, ...)
+
   )
 }
 
 
-prop_list <- function(default = NULL, validator = NULL) {
+prop_list <- function(default = NULL, validator = NULL, ...) {
   S7::new_property(
     class = S7::class_list,
     default = if (is.null(default)) {
@@ -44,7 +45,7 @@ prop_list <- function(default = NULL, validator = NULL) {
     } else {
       default
     },
-    validator = function(value) validator(value)
+    validator = function(value) validate(value, validator, ...)
   )
 }
 
diff --git a/R/validators.R b/R/validators.R
index 83d4359..2ef488b 100644
--- a/R/validators.R
+++ b/R/validators.R
@@ -1,5 +1,25 @@
+validate <- function(value, validator, ...){
+  class(value) <- validator
+
+  validate_value(value, ...)
+
+}
+
+
+validate_value <- function(value, ...){
+  UseMethod("validate_value")
+}
+
+#' @export
+validate_value.default <- function(value, ...){
+  NULL
+}
+
+
 # Helper function to validate ID fields
-validate_id <- function(value, allow_na = TRUE) {
+#' @export
+validate_value.id <- function(value, allow_na = TRUE) {
+
   if (length(value) != 1) {
     return("must have exactly one value")
   }
@@ -18,14 +38,15 @@ validate_id <- function(value, allow_na = TRUE) {
   return(NULL)
 }
 
-validate_bytesize <- function(value){
-  if (length(value) != 1) {
-    return("must have exactly one value")
-  }
-}
+# validate_bytesize <- function(value){
+#   if (length(value) != 1) {
+#     return("must have exactly one value")
+#   }
+# }
 
+#' @export
+validate_value.natural_number_list <- function(value, ...) {
 
-validate_natural_number_list <- function(value) {
   if (length(value) > 0) {
     # Check if all elements are numeric
     if (!all(sapply(value, is.numeric))) {
@@ -40,8 +61,9 @@ validate_natural_number_list <- function(value) {
   }
 }
 
+#' @export
+validate_value.text <- function(value, max_length = 1000L) {
 
-validate_text <- function(value, max_length = 1000L) {
   # FIXME: is an empty string allowed?
   if (!is.na(value) && nzchar(value) && nchar(value) > max_length) {
     return(paste("can have a maximum of", max_length, "characters"))
@@ -49,8 +71,9 @@ validate_text <- function(value, max_length = 1000L) {
   return(NULL)
 }
 
+#' @export
+validate_value.url <- function(value, ...) {
 
-validate_url <- function(value) {
   if (!is.na(value) && nzchar(value)) {
     if (!grepl("^https?://[[:alnum:].-]+\\.[A-Za-z]{2,}(/[[:alnum:]._~%-]*)*$", value)) {
       return("must start with http:// or https:// and must have a valid domain")
@@ -60,8 +83,8 @@ validate_url <- function(value) {
 }
 
 
-
-validate_email <- function(value) {
+#' @export
+validate_value.email <- function(value, ...) {
   if (!is.na(value) && nzchar(value)) {
     if (!grepl("^[^@]+@[^@]+\\.[^@]+$", value)) {
       return("must be a valid address.")
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-distribution.R b/tests/testthat/test-distribution.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c34bbd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-distribution.R
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+test_that("the distribution object is correctly created", {
+  expect_no_error(
+    Distribution(
+      title = "Hello Distribution 1",
+      dataset_id = 6819,
+      stat_server_flag = FALSE,
+      zh_web_flag = FALSE,
+      ogd_flag = TRUE,
+      sort_order = 1,
+      description = "WOW this is a distribution!",
+      modified = "2025-03-31",
+      access_url = "https://test.ch",
+      identifier = "test",
+      right = "test",
+      issued = "2025-03-31",
+      byte_size = 12345,
+      status_id = 1,
+      license_id = 1,
+      format_id = 1,
+      media_type_id = 1,
+      periodicity_id = 1,
+      file_upload_id = "2"
+    )
+  )
+})