diff --git a/src/helma/servlet/AbstractServletClient.java b/src/helma/servlet/AbstractServletClient.java
index 7663f67a..1e2367c6 100644
--- a/src/helma/servlet/AbstractServletClient.java
+++ b/src/helma/servlet/AbstractServletClient.java
@@ -840,7 +840,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractServletClient extends HttpServlet {
         t = new StringTokenizer(uri, "/");
 
         int uriTokens = t.countTokens();
-        StringBuffer pathbuffer = new StringBuffer();
+        StringBuffer pathbuffer = new StringBuffer("/");
 
         String encoding = getApplication().getCharset();