diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/BooleanQuery.java b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/BooleanQuery.java
index 85f231e04da..279cbc32f34 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/BooleanQuery.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/BooleanQuery.java
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ public class BooleanQuery extends Query {
    * the operating system.
    */
   public static void setMaxClauseCount(int maxClauseCount) {
+    if (maxClauseCount < 1)
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("maxClauseCount must be >= 1");
     BooleanQuery.maxClauseCount = maxClauseCount;
   }
 
diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/TestBooleanQuery.java b/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/TestBooleanQuery.java
index a569abc35b1..04083af3e00 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/TestBooleanQuery.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/TestBooleanQuery.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 
 public class TestBooleanQuery extends TestCase {
+  
   public void testEquality() throws Exception {
     BooleanQuery bq1 = new BooleanQuery();
     bq1.add(new TermQuery(new Term("field", "value1")), BooleanClause.Occur.SHOULD);
@@ -39,4 +40,14 @@ public class TestBooleanQuery extends TestCase {
 
     assertEquals(bq1, bq2);
   }
+
+  public void testException() {
+    try {
+      BooleanQuery.setMaxClauseCount(0);
+      fail();
+    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+      // okay
+    }
+  }
+  
 }