diff --git a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go
index a4ea7596cd1..1b3b2567335 100644
--- a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go
@@ -1549,8 +1549,8 @@ func TestEnsurePipelineContains(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func expectExecuteFailure(t *testing.T, b *bytes.Buffer) {
-	if x := recover(); x != nil {
+func expectExecuteFailure(t *testing.T, b *bytes.Buffer, err os.Error) {
+	if err != nil {
 		if b.Len() != 0 {
 			t.Errorf("output on buffer: %q", b.String())
 		}
@@ -1563,8 +1563,8 @@ func TestEscapeErrorsNotIgnorable(t *testing.T) {
 	var b bytes.Buffer
 	tmpl := template.Must(template.New("dangerous").Parse("<a"))
 	Escape(tmpl)
-	defer expectExecuteFailure(t, &b)
-	tmpl.Execute(&b, nil)
+	err := tmpl.Execute(&b, nil)
+	expectExecuteFailure(t, &b, err)
 }
 
 func TestEscapeSetErrorsNotIgnorable(t *testing.T) {
@@ -1574,8 +1574,8 @@ func TestEscapeSetErrorsNotIgnorable(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	EscapeSet(s, "t")
 	var b bytes.Buffer
-	defer expectExecuteFailure(t, &b)
-	s.Execute(&b, "t", nil)
+	err = s.Execute(&b, "t", nil)
+	expectExecuteFailure(t, &b, err)
 }
 
 func TestRedundantFuncs(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/src/pkg/template/exec.go b/src/pkg/template/exec.go
index e7fad72fe71..34c6633232f 100644
--- a/src/pkg/template/exec.go
+++ b/src/pkg/template/exec.go
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ func (t *Template) Execute(wr io.Writer, data interface{}) (err os.Error) {
 		line: 1,
 		vars: []variable{{"$", value}},
 	}
-	if t.Root == nil {
+	if t.Tree == nil || t.Root == nil {
 		state.errorf("must be parsed before execution")
 	}
 	state.walk(value, t.Root)