diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.txt b/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
index 4480f8a8e..dd00f7f34 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 Changes in trunk
 -------------------
 
+* [HTTPCLIENT-1291] Absolute request URIs without an explicitly specified path are rewritten 
+  to have "/" path).  
+  Contributed by Oleg Kalnichevski <olegk at apache.org>
+
 * [HTTPCLIENT-900] Don't enforce URI syntax for messages with an explicit target host.  
   Contributed by Oleg Kalnichevski <olegk at apache.org>
 
diff --git a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/URIUtils.java b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/URIUtils.java
index 02e5a8073..aff5c87ab 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/URIUtils.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/main/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/URIUtils.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import java.util.Stack;
 import org.apache.http.HttpHost;
 import org.apache.http.annotation.Immutable;
 import org.apache.http.util.Args;
+import org.apache.http.util.TextUtils;
 
 /**
  * A collection of utilities for {@link URI URIs}, to workaround
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ public class URIUtils {
      * A convenience method for creating a new {@link URI} whose scheme, host
      * and port are taken from the target host, but whose path, query and
      * fragment are taken from the existing URI. The fragment is only used if
-     * dropFragment is false.
+     * dropFragment is false. The path is set to "/" if not explicitly specified.
      *
      * @param uri
      *            Contains the path, query and fragment to use.
@@ -142,6 +143,9 @@ public class URIUtils {
         if (dropFragment) {
             uribuilder.setFragment(null);
         }
+        if (TextUtils.isEmpty(uribuilder.getPath())) {
+            uribuilder.setPath("/");
+        }
         return uribuilder.build();
     }
 
@@ -159,7 +163,8 @@ public class URIUtils {
     /**
      * A convenience method that creates a new {@link URI} whose scheme, host, port, path,
      * query are taken from the existing URI, dropping any fragment or user-information.
-     * The existing URI is returned unmodified if it has no fragment or user-information.
+     * The path is set to "/" if not explicitly specified. The existing URI is returned
+     * unmodified if it has no fragment or user-information and has a path.
      *
      * @param uri
      *            original URI.
@@ -168,8 +173,14 @@ public class URIUtils {
      */
     public static URI rewriteURI(final URI uri) throws URISyntaxException {
         Args.notNull(uri, "URI");
-        if (uri.getFragment() != null || uri.getUserInfo() != null) {
-            return new URIBuilder(uri).setFragment(null).setUserInfo(null).build();
+        if (uri.getFragment() != null || uri.getUserInfo() != null
+                || TextUtils.isEmpty(uri.getPath())) {
+            URIBuilder uribuilder = new URIBuilder(uri);
+            uribuilder.setFragment(null).setUserInfo(null);
+            if (TextUtils.isEmpty(uribuilder.getPath())) {
+                uribuilder.setPath("/");
+            }
+            return uribuilder.build();
         } else {
             return uri;
         }
diff --git a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIUtils.java b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIUtils.java
index a87f05d28..0b5e169b8 100644
--- a/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIUtils.java
+++ b/httpclient/src/test/java/org/apache/http/client/utils/TestURIUtils.java
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ public class TestURIUtils {
                 URI.create("http://thishost/stuff#crap"), target, true).toString());
         Assert.assertEquals("http://thathost/stuff#crap", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
                 URI.create("http://thishost/stuff#crap"), target, false).toString());
+        Assert.assertEquals("http://thathost/", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
+                URI.create("http://thishost#crap"), target, true).toString());
+        Assert.assertEquals("http://thathost/#crap", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
+                URI.create("http://thishost#crap"), target, false).toString());
         Assert.assertEquals("/stuff/", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
                 URI.create("http://thishost//////////////stuff/"), null).toString());
         Assert.assertEquals("http://thathost/stuff", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
@@ -63,6 +67,8 @@ public class TestURIUtils {
                 URI.create("http://thathost/stuff#fragment")).toString());
         Assert.assertEquals("http://thathost/stuff", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
                 URI.create("http://userinfo@thathost/stuff#fragment")).toString());
+        Assert.assertEquals("http://thathost/", URIUtils.rewriteURI(
+                URI.create("http://thathost")).toString());
     }
 
     @Test