diff --git a/libjava/ChangeLog b/libjava/ChangeLog
index 3a47cc0683c..bbf6942467f 100644
--- a/libjava/ChangeLog
+++ b/libjava/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2002-02-06  Tom Tromey  <tromey@redhat.com>
+
+	* verify.cc (require_array_type): If argument is a null array of
+	references, return null as the element type.
+
 2002-02-06  Mark Wielaard  <mark@klomp.org>
 
 	* verify.cc (verify_instructions_0) [op_dup2]: Actually push the
diff --git a/libjava/verify.cc b/libjava/verify.cc
index 8d235e7d3da..562cfaf5bc3 100644
--- a/libjava/verify.cc
+++ b/libjava/verify.cc
@@ -1166,9 +1166,11 @@ private:
   // compatible with type ELEMENT.  Returns the actual element type.
   type require_array_type (type array, type element)
   {
-    // An odd case.  Here we just pretend that everything went ok.
+    // An odd case.  Here we just pretend that everything went ok.  If
+    // the requested element type is some kind of reference, return
+    // the null type instead.
     if (array.isnull ())
-      return element;
+      return element.isreference () ? type (null_type) : element;
 
     if (! array.isarray ())
       verify_fail ("array required");