diff --git a/uri.c b/uri.c
index 4901a117..2cf8d9f1 100644
--- a/uri.c
+++ b/uri.c
@@ -2236,25 +2236,8 @@ xmlBuildRelativeURI (const xmlChar * URI, const xmlChar * base)
      * First we take care of the special case where either of the
      * two path components may be missing (bug 316224)
      */
-    if (bas->path == NULL) {
-	if (ref->path != NULL) {
-	    uptr = (xmlChar *) ref->path;
-	    if (*uptr == '/')
-		uptr++;
-	    /* exception characters from xmlSaveUri */
-	    val = xmlURIEscapeStr(uptr, BAD_CAST "/;&=+$,");
-	}
-	goto done;
-    }
     bptr = (xmlChar *)bas->path;
-    if (ref->path == NULL) {
-	for (ix = 0; bptr[ix] != 0; ix++) {
-	    if (bptr[ix] == '/')
-		nbslash++;
-	}
-	uptr = NULL;
-	len = 1;	/* this is for a string terminator only */
-    } else {
+    {
         xmlChar *rptr = (xmlChar *) ref->path;
         int pos = 0;
 
@@ -2289,11 +2272,9 @@ xmlBuildRelativeURI (const xmlChar * URI, const xmlChar * base)
 	/*
 	 * In base, count the number of '/' from the differing point
 	 */
-	if (bptr[pos] != rptr[pos]) {/* check for trivial URI == base */
-	    for (; bptr[ix] != 0; ix++) {
-		if (bptr[ix] == '/')
-		    nbslash++;
-	    }
+	for (; bptr[ix] != 0; ix++) {
+	    if (bptr[ix] == '/')
+		nbslash++;
 	}
 
 	/*