diff --git a/app/models/hyrax/change_set.rb b/app/models/hyrax/change_set.rb
index 2c941998ec..bb433e8b91 100644
--- a/app/models/hyrax/change_set.rb
+++ b/app/models/hyrax/change_set.rb
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ def self.ChangeSet(resource_class)
   end
 
   class ChangeSet < Valkyrie::ChangeSet
+    validates_with Hyrax::ControlledVocabularyValidator
+
     ##
     # @api public
     #
diff --git a/app/validators/hyrax/controlled_vocabulary_validator.rb b/app/validators/hyrax/controlled_vocabulary_validator.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..36c7551bb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/validators/hyrax/controlled_vocabulary_validator.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+module Hyrax
+  ##
+  # Validates that controlled vocabulary properties contain only active
+  # terms from their corresponding local QA authority.
+  #
+  # Properties are matched to authorities dynamically via
+  # +Qa::Authorities::Local.subauthorities+, using the singularized
+  # authority name to match property names on the change set.
+  #
+  # Only covers local authorities (file-based and table-based).
+  # Remote authorities (e.g. Geonames) are out of scope.
+  class ControlledVocabularyValidator < ActiveModel::Validator
+    def validate(record)
+      return unless Flipflop.validate_local_controlled_vocabulary?
+
+      active_terms_by_property(record).each do |property, terms|
+        values = Array.wrap(record.public_send(property)).reject(&:blank?)
+        next if values.empty?
+
+        invalid = values.reject { |v| terms.include?(v) }
+        invalid.each do |v|
+          record.errors.add(property, "#{property.to_s.humanize} contains unrecognized value: #{v}")
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+    private
+
+    ##
+    # @example
+    #   # { "license" => ["http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", ...],
+    #   #   "resource_type" => ["Article", "Book", ...] }
+    #
+    # @return [Hash{String => Array<String>}]
+    def active_terms_by_property(record)
+      authorities = Qa::Authorities::Local.subauthorities
+
+      # { "license" => "licenses", "resource_type" => "resource_types", ... }
+      property_to_authority = {}.tap do |hash|
+        authorities.each { |name| hash[name.singularize] = name }
+      end
+
+      properties = record.fields.keys.map(&:to_s)
+
+      {}.tap do |result|
+        (properties & property_to_authority.keys).each do |property|
+          authority = Qa::Authorities::Local.subauthority_for(property_to_authority[property])
+          terms = authority.all
+          next if terms.empty?
+
+          result[property] = terms.filter_map { |term| term[:id] if active?(term) }
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
+    ##
+    # Terms without an +active+ field (e.g. resource_types) are
+    # treated as active, matching QA's +FileBasedAuthority#all+ behavior.
+    def active?(term)
+      term.fetch(:active, true) != false
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/config/features.rb b/config/features.rb
index 1214a67896..8975d14049 100644
--- a/config/features.rb
+++ b/config/features.rb
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@
     feature :read_only,
             default: false,
             description: "Put the system into read-only mode. Deposits, edits, approvals and anything that makes a change to the data will be disabled."
+
+    feature :validate_local_controlled_vocabulary,
+            default: false,
+            description: "Validate local controlled vocabulary."
   end
 
   group :repository_management do
diff --git a/spec/validators/hyrax/controlled_vocabulary_validator_spec.rb b/spec/validators/hyrax/controlled_vocabulary_validator_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e21d6089b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/validators/hyrax/controlled_vocabulary_validator_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+RSpec.describe Hyrax::ControlledVocabularyValidator do
+  subject(:validator) { described_class.new }
+
+  let(:resource)   { build(:hyrax_work) }
+  let(:change_set) { Hyrax::ChangeSet.for(resource) }
+
+  let(:license_terms) do
+    [
+      HashWithIndifferentAccess.new(id: 'http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/', term: 'Attribution 4.0', active: true),
+      HashWithIndifferentAccess.new(id: 'http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/', term: 'Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0', active: true),
+      HashWithIndifferentAccess.new(id: 'http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/', term: 'Attribution 3.0 United States', active: false)
+    ]
+  end
+
+  let(:resource_type_terms) do
+    [
+      HashWithIndifferentAccess.new(id: 'Article', term: 'Article'),
+      HashWithIndifferentAccess.new(id: 'Book', term: 'Book')
+    ]
+  end
+
+  let(:license_authority)       { FakeAuthority.new(license_terms) }
+  let(:resource_type_authority) { FakeAuthority.new(resource_type_terms) }
+
+  before do
+    allow(Flipflop).to receive(:validate_local_controlled_vocabulary?).and_return(true)
+    allow(Qa::Authorities::Local).to receive(:subauthorities).and_return(['licenses', 'resource_types'])
+    allow(Qa::Authorities::Local).to receive(:subauthority_for).with('licenses').and_return(license_authority)
+    allow(Qa::Authorities::Local).to receive(:subauthority_for).with('resource_types').and_return(resource_type_authority)
+  end
+
+  describe '#validate' do
+    context 'when the change set has no controlled vocabulary fields' do
+      it 'adds no errors' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors).to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when fields have valid terms' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return(
+          'license' => [],
+          'resource_type' => []
+        )
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:resource_type).and_return(['Article'])
+      end
+
+      it 'adds no errors' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors).to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when fields have blank values' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['', nil])
+      end
+
+      it 'adds no errors' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors).to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when an authority has no terms' do
+      let(:license_authority) { FakeAuthority.new([]) }
+
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['anything'])
+      end
+
+      it 'adds no errors' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors).to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when a field has an invalid term' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['http://bogus.example.com/fake'])
+      end
+
+      it 'adds errors to the change set' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors[:license]).to be_present
+        expect(change_set.errors.full_messages).to include(match(/license.*unrecognized.*bogus/i))
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when multiple fields have invalid terms' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return(
+          'license' => [],
+          'resource_type' => []
+        )
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['bad-license'])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:resource_type).and_return(['NotARealType'])
+      end
+
+      it 'adds errors for all invalid fields' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors[:license]).to be_present
+        expect(change_set.errors[:resource_type]).to be_present
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when a field has an inactive term' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/'])
+      end
+
+      it 'adds errors for the inactive term' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors.full_messages).to include(match(/license.*unrecognized.*by\/3.0\/us/i))
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when a term has no active field' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('resource_type' => [])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:resource_type).and_return(['Article'])
+      end
+
+      it 'treats it as active and adds no errors' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors).to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
+    context 'when a field has a mix of valid and invalid terms' do
+      before do
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+        allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(
+          ['http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/',
+           'http://bogus.example.com/fake']
+        )
+      end
+
+      it 'adds errors only for invalid terms' do
+        validator.validate(change_set)
+
+        expect(change_set.errors.full_messages).to include(match(/license.*unrecognized.*bogus/i))
+        expect(change_set.errors.full_messages).not_to include(match(/by\/4.0/i))
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
+  context 'when the feature is disabled' do
+    before { allow(Flipflop).to receive(:validate_local_controlled_vocabulary?).and_return(false) }
+
+    it 'skips validation' do
+      allow(change_set).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+      allow(change_set).to receive(:license).and_return(['http://bogus.example.com/fake'])
+
+      validator.validate(change_set)
+
+      expect(change_set.errors).to be_empty
+    end
+  end
+
+  describe 'ChangeSet integration' do
+    it 'is registered on Hyrax::ChangeSet and inherited by subclasses' do
+      form = Hyrax::Forms::ResourceForm.new(resource: resource)
+      allow(form).to receive(:fields).and_return('license' => [])
+      allow(form).to receive(:license).and_return(['http://bogus.example.com/fake'])
+
+      expect(form.valid?).to be false
+      expect(form.errors[:license]).to be_present
+    end
+  end
+end