diff --git a/src/common/uri.cpp b/src/common/uri.cpp
index e46b0e13d4..4dba8acff7 100644
--- a/src/common/uri.cpp
+++ b/src/common/uri.cpp
@@ -532,6 +532,21 @@ const char* wxURI::ParsePath(const char* uri)
         return uri;
 
     const bool isAbs = *uri == '/';
+
+    // From RFC 3986: when authority is present, the path must either be empty
+    // or begin with a slash ("/") character. When authority is not present,
+    // the path cannot begin with two slashes.
+    if ( m_userinfo.empty() && m_server.empty() && m_port.empty() )
+    {
+        if ( isAbs && uri[1] == '/' )
+            return uri;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        if ( !isAbs )
+            return uri;
+    }
+
     if ( isAbs )
         m_path += *uri++;
 
diff --git a/tests/uris/uris.cpp b/tests/uris/uris.cpp
index 7ad7189198..42cbf3fd13 100644
--- a/tests/uris/uris.cpp
+++ b/tests/uris/uris.cpp
@@ -189,6 +189,13 @@ void URITestCase::Paths()
 
     URI_ASSERT_PART_EQUAL("path/john/../../../joe",
                           "../joe", BuildURI());
+
+    // According to RFC 3986, when the authority is present, the path must
+    // begin with a slash (or be empty) and when there is no authority, the
+    // path cannot begin with two slashes, so check for this.
+    URI_ASSERT_PATH_EQUAL("http://good.com:8042BADPATH", "");
+    URI_ASSERT_PATH_EQUAL("http://good.com:8042/GOODPATH", "/GOODPATH");
+    URI_ASSERT_PATH_EQUAL("//BADPATH", "");
 }
 
 void URITestCase::UserAndPass()