diff --git a/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HostPortHttpField.java b/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HostPortHttpField.java
index d08eed45706..a5334007283 100644
--- a/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HostPortHttpField.java
+++ b/jetty-http/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HostPortHttpField.java
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ public class HostPortHttpField extends HttpField
     public HostPortHttpField(HttpHeader header, String name, String authority)
     {
         super(header,name,authority);
-                
+        if (authority==null || authority.length()==0)
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("No Authority");
         try
         {
             if (authority.charAt(0)=='[')
diff --git a/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java b/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java
index eae28f78f21..6c7cb70088a 100644
--- a/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java
+++ b/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ public class URIUtil
                         }
                         else
                         {
-                            throw new IllegalArgumentException();
+                            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Bad URI % encoding");
                         }
 
                         break;
diff --git a/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/SchedulerTest.java b/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/SchedulerTest.java
index f1b2af71637..d2bea65cb45 100644
--- a/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/SchedulerTest.java
+++ b/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/thread/SchedulerTest.java
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ public class SchedulerTest
             @Override
             public void run()
             {
-                throw new RuntimeException();
+                throw new RuntimeException("Thrown by testTaskThrowsException");
             }
         }, delay, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);