diff --git a/src/xalanc/XPath/XPath.cpp b/src/xalanc/XPath/XPath.cpp
index 6a32962f4..ab9cc436a 100644
--- a/src/xalanc/XPath/XPath.cpp
+++ b/src/xalanc/XPath/XPath.cpp
@@ -3537,6 +3537,12 @@ XPath::findRoot(
             }
             else
             {
+                if (DOMServices::getParentOfNode(*docContext) == 0 &&
+                    nodeType == XalanNode::ELEMENT_NODE)
+                {
+                    // docContext is root node
+                    break;
+                }
                 docContext =
                     DOMServices::getParentOfNode(*docContext);
                 assert(docContext != 0);