diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/PersistentEntityJackson2Module.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/PersistentEntityJackson2Module.java
index 0550f6c7c..21945ee96 100644
--- a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/PersistentEntityJackson2Module.java
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/PersistentEntityJackson2Module.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import org.springframework.hateoas.Resource;
 import org.springframework.hateoas.Resources;
 import org.springframework.hateoas.UriTemplate;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonUnwrapped;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerationException;
@@ -367,6 +368,7 @@ public class PersistentEntityJackson2Module extends SimpleModule {
 	static class UriStringDeserializer extends StdDeserializer<Object> {
 
 		private static final long serialVersionUID = -2175900204153350125L;
+		private static final String UNEXPECTED_VALUE = "Expected URI cause property %s points to the managed domain type!";
 
 		private final PersistentProperty<?> property;
 		private final UriToEntityConverter converter;
@@ -393,10 +395,20 @@ public class PersistentEntityJackson2Module extends SimpleModule {
 		@Override
 		public Object deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
 
-			URI uri = new UriTemplate(jp.getValueAsString()).expand();
-			TypeDescriptor typeDescriptor = TypeDescriptor.valueOf(property.getActualType());
+			String source = jp.getValueAsString();
 
-			return converter.convert(uri, URI_DESCRIPTOR, typeDescriptor);
+			if (!StringUtils.hasText(source)) {
+				return null;
+			}
+
+			try {
+				URI uri = new UriTemplate(source).expand();
+				TypeDescriptor typeDescriptor = TypeDescriptor.valueOf(property.getActualType());
+
+				return converter.convert(uri, URI_DESCRIPTOR, typeDescriptor);
+			} catch (IllegalArgumentException o_O) {
+				throw ctxt.weirdStringException(source, URI.class, String.format(UNEXPECTED_VALUE, property));
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/UriStringDeserializerUnitTests.java b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/UriStringDeserializerUnitTests.java
index e9e4571e3..f9c1ad0ea 100644
--- a/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/UriStringDeserializerUnitTests.java
+++ b/spring-data-rest-webmvc/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/rest/webmvc/json/UriStringDeserializerUnitTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2014 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2014-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -15,13 +15,17 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc.json;
 
+import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.*;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
 import java.net.URI;
 
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.ExpectedException;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.mockito.Mock;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
@@ -30,9 +34,12 @@ import org.springframework.core.convert.TypeDescriptor;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.PersistentProperty;
 import org.springframework.data.rest.core.UriToEntityConverter;
 import org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc.json.PersistentEntityJackson2Module.UriStringDeserializer;
+import org.springframework.test.util.ReflectionTestUtils;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 
 /**
  * Unit tests for {@link UriStringDeserializer}.
@@ -42,17 +49,24 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
 @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
 public class UriStringDeserializerUnitTests {
 
+	public @Rule ExpectedException exception = ExpectedException.none();
+
 	@Mock UriToEntityConverter converter;
 	@Mock PersistentProperty<?> property;
 
 	@Mock JsonParser parser;
-	@Mock DeserializationContext context;
+	DeserializationContext context;
 
 	UriStringDeserializer deserializer;
 
 	@Before
 	public void setUp() {
+
 		this.deserializer = new UriStringDeserializer(property, converter);
+
+		// Need to hack the context as there's virtually no way wo set up a combined parser and context easily
+		this.context = new ObjectMapper().getDeserializationContext();
+		ReflectionTestUtils.setField(context, "_parser", parser);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -71,15 +85,43 @@ public class UriStringDeserializerUnitTests {
 		assertConverterInvokedWithUri("/foo/32{?projection}", URI.create("/foo/32"));
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAREST-377
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void returnsNullUriIfSourceIsEmptyOrNull() throws Exception {
+
+		assertThat(invokeConverterWith(""), is(nullValue()));
+		assertThat(invokeConverterWith(null), is(nullValue()));
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @see DATAREST-377
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void rejectsNonUriValue() throws Exception {
+
+		exception.expect(JsonMappingException.class);
+		exception.expectMessage("managed domain type");
+
+		invokeConverterWith("{ \"foo\" : \"bar\" }");
+	}
+
 	@SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
-	private void assertConverterInvokedWithUri(String source, URI expected) throws Exception {
+	private Object invokeConverterWith(String source) throws Exception {
 
 		when(property.getActualType()).thenReturn((Class) Object.class);
 		when(parser.getValueAsString()).thenReturn(source);
+		when(parser.getText()).thenReturn(source);
 
-		deserializer.deserialize(parser, context);
+		return deserializer.deserialize(parser, context);
+	}
 
-		verify(converter)
-				.convert(eq(expected), Mockito.any(TypeDescriptor.class), eq(TypeDescriptor.valueOf(Object.class)));
+	private void assertConverterInvokedWithUri(String source, URI expected) throws Exception {
+
+		invokeConverterWith(source);
+
+		verify(converter).convert(eq(expected), Mockito.any(TypeDescriptor.class),
+				eq(TypeDescriptor.valueOf(Object.class)));
 	}
 }