diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryParser.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryParser.java
index eefa2914ab9..7667c3ee13c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/BoolQueryParser.java
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public class BoolQueryParser implements QueryParser {
 
     @Inject
     public BoolQueryParser(Settings settings) {
-        BooleanQuery.setMaxClauseCount(settings.getAsInt("index.query.bool.max_clause_count", BooleanQuery.getMaxClauseCount()));
+        BooleanQuery.setMaxClauseCount(settings.getAsInt("index.query.bool.max_clause_count", settings.getAsInt("indices.query.bool.max_clause_count", BooleanQuery.getMaxClauseCount())));
     }
 
     @Override