YII Client side form validation error doesn't prevent form submit To get this behavior you just need to add 'clientOptions' => array('validateOnSubmit'=>true), to your configuration so it would look like this: $form=$this->beginWidget( 'CActiveForm', array( 'id'=>'member-form', 'enableAjaxValidation'=>false, 'enableClientValidation'=>true, 'clientOptions' => array('validateOnSubmit'=>true), ) );