diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp
index c0cbfd6ca6..9ad082df78 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/rbbi.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ RuleBasedBreakIterator::RuleBasedBreakIterator( const UnicodeString  &rules,
     init();
     if (U_FAILURE(status)) {return;}
     RuleBasedBreakIterator *bi = (RuleBasedBreakIterator *)
-        RBBIRuleBuilder::createRuleBasedBreakIterator(rules, parseError, status);
+        RBBIRuleBuilder::createRuleBasedBreakIterator(rules, &parseError, status);
     // Note:  This is a bit awkward.  The RBBI ruleBuilder has a factory method that
     //        creates and returns a complete RBBI.  From here, in a constructor, we
     //        can't just return the object created by the builder factory, hence
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.cpp
index e6db483460..13d49bf2e2 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.cpp
@@ -43,12 +43,12 @@ U_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
 //
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 RBBIRuleBuilder::RBBIRuleBuilder(const UnicodeString   &rules,
-                                       UParseError     &parseErr,
+                                       UParseError     *parseErr,
                                        UErrorCode      &status)
  : fRules(rules)
 {
     fStatus = &status; // status is checked below
-    fParseError = &parseErr;
+    fParseError = parseErr;
     fDebugEnv   = NULL;
 #ifdef RBBI_DEBUG
     fDebugEnv   = getenv("U_RBBIDEBUG");
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ RBBIRuleBuilder::RBBIRuleBuilder(const UnicodeString   &rules,
     fRuleStatusVals     = NULL;
     fScanner            = NULL;
     fSetBuilder         = NULL;
+    if (parseErr) {
+        uprv_memset(parseErr, 0, sizeof(UParseError));
+    }
 
     if (U_FAILURE(status)) {
         return;
@@ -226,7 +229,7 @@ RBBIDataHeader *RBBIRuleBuilder::flattenData() {
 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 BreakIterator *
 RBBIRuleBuilder::createRuleBasedBreakIterator( const UnicodeString    &rules,
-                                    UParseError      &parseError,
+                                    UParseError      *parseError,
                                     UErrorCode       &status)
 {
     // status checked below
@@ -236,10 +239,10 @@ RBBIRuleBuilder::createRuleBasedBreakIterator( const UnicodeString    &rules,
     // and list of all Unicode Sets referenced by the rules.
     //
     RBBIRuleBuilder  builder(rules, parseError, status);
-    builder.fScanner->parse();
     if (U_FAILURE(status)) { // status checked here bcos build below doesn't
         return NULL;
     }
+    builder.fScanner->parse();
 
     //
     // UnicodeSet processing.
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.h b/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.h
index d7a5383606..deb9b0ee12 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.h
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/rbbirb.h
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 //
 //  rbbirb.h
 //
-//  Copyright (C) 2002-2005, International Business Machines Corporation and others.
+//  Copyright (C) 2002-2008, International Business Machines Corporation and others.
 //  All Rights Reserved.
 //
 //  This file contains declarations for several classes from the
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ public:
     //   public ICU API for creating RBBIs uses this function to do the actual work.
     //
     static BreakIterator * createRuleBasedBreakIterator( const UnicodeString    &rules,
-                                    UParseError      &parseError,
+                                    UParseError      *parseError,
                                     UErrorCode       &status);
 
 public:
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ public:
     //  are NOT intended to be accessed by anything outside of the
     //  rule builder implementation.
     RBBIRuleBuilder(const UnicodeString  &rules,
-                    UParseError          &parseErr,
+                    UParseError          *parseErr,
                     UErrorCode           &status
         );
 
diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
index 8902810028..944708ab8d 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 /*
-*****************************************************************************************
-*   Copyright (C) 1996-2007, International Business Machines
+********************************************************************************
+*   Copyright (C) 1996-2008, International Business Machines
 *   Corporation and others.  All Rights Reserved.
-*****************************************************************************************
+********************************************************************************
 */
 
 #include "unicode/utypes.h"
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@
 
 U_NAMESPACE_USE
 
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //
 //    ubrk_open      Create a canned type of break iterator based on type (word, line, etc.)
 //                   and locale.
 //
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 U_CAPI UBreakIterator* U_EXPORT2
 ubrk_open(UBreakIteratorType type,
       const char *locale,
@@ -84,12 +84,12 @@ ubrk_open(UBreakIteratorType type,
 
 
 
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //
 //   ubrk_openRules      open a break iterator from a set of break rules.
 //                       Invokes the rule builder.
 //
-//----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 U_CAPI UBreakIterator* U_EXPORT2
 ubrk_openRules(  const UChar        *rules,
                        int32_t       rulesLength,
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ ubrk_openRules(  const UChar        *rules,
 
     BreakIterator *result = 0;
     UnicodeString ruleString(rules, rulesLength);
-    result = RBBIRuleBuilder::createRuleBasedBreakIterator(ruleString, *parseErr, *status);
+    result = RBBIRuleBuilder::createRuleBasedBreakIterator(ruleString, parseErr, *status);
     if(U_FAILURE(*status)) {
         return 0;
     }