diff --git a/spring-binding/src/main/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrors.java b/spring-binding/src/main/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrors.java
index 7b5153af..84e4e112 100644
--- a/spring-binding/src/main/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrors.java
+++ b/spring-binding/src/main/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrors.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import org.springframework.binding.expression.support.FluentParserContext;
 import org.springframework.binding.mapping.MappingResult;
 import org.springframework.binding.mapping.MappingResults;
 import org.springframework.binding.mapping.MappingResultsCriteria;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 import org.springframework.validation.AbstractErrors;
 import org.springframework.validation.Errors;
 import org.springframework.validation.FieldError;
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ public class MessageContextErrors extends AbstractErrors {
 	public void rejectValue(String field, String errorCode, Object[] errorArgs, String defaultMessage) {
 		field = fixedField(field);
 		Class fieldType;
-		if (expressionParser != null) {
+		if (StringUtils.hasLength(field) && (expressionParser != null)) {
 			FluentParserContext parserContext = new FluentParserContext().evaluate(boundObject.getClass());
 			fieldType = expressionParser.parseExpression(field, parserContext).getValueType(boundObject);
 		} else {
diff --git a/spring-binding/src/test/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrorsTests.java b/spring-binding/src/test/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrorsTests.java
index cdfaf97c..b5bf9668 100644
--- a/spring-binding/src/test/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrorsTests.java
+++ b/spring-binding/src/test/java/org/springframework/binding/message/MessageContextErrorsTests.java
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ import java.util.Locale;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
+import org.springframework.binding.expression.spel.SpringELExpressionParser;
 import org.springframework.context.support.StaticMessageSource;
+import org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpressionParser;
 import org.springframework.validation.DefaultMessageCodesResolver;
 import org.springframework.validation.MapBindingResult;
 
@@ -68,6 +70,23 @@ public class MessageContextErrorsTests extends TestCase {
 		assertEquals(Severity.ERROR, msg.getSeverity());
 	}
 
+	public void testGlobalError() {
+		StaticMessageSource messageSource = new StaticMessageSource();
+		messageSource.addMessage("foo", Locale.getDefault(), "bar");
+		messageSource.addMessage("bar", Locale.getDefault(), "{0}");
+
+		DefaultMessageContext context = new DefaultMessageContext(messageSource);
+		Object object = new Object();
+		SpringELExpressionParser expressionParser = new SpringELExpressionParser(new SpelExpressionParser());
+		MessageContextErrors errors = new MessageContextErrors(context, "object", object, expressionParser,
+				new DefaultMessageCodesResolver(), null);
+		errors.rejectValue(null, "bar", new Object[] { "boop" }, null);
+		Message msg = context.getAllMessages()[0];
+		assertEquals("", msg.getSource());
+		assertEquals("boop", msg.getText());
+		assertEquals(Severity.ERROR, msg.getSeverity());
+	}
+
 	public void testAddAllErrors() {
 		StaticMessageSource messageSource = new StaticMessageSource();
 		messageSource.addMessage("foo", Locale.getDefault(), "bar");