diff --git a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/DefaultResourceLoader.java b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/DefaultResourceLoader.java
index d422c50ed19..46b5e273aa2 100644
--- a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/DefaultResourceLoader.java
+++ b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/DefaultResourceLoader.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 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.
@@ -74,15 +74,13 @@ public class DefaultResourceLoader implements ResourceLoader {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Return the ClassLoader to load class path resources with,
-	 * or <code>null</code> if using the thread context class loader on actual access
-	 * (applying to the thread that constructs the ClassPathResource object).
+	 * Return the ClassLoader to load class path resources with.
 	 * <p>Will get passed to ClassPathResource's constructor for all
 	 * ClassPathResource objects created by this resource loader.
 	 * @see ClassPathResource
 	 */
 	public ClassLoader getClassLoader() {
-		return this.classLoader;
+		return (this.classLoader != null ? this.classLoader : ClassUtils.getDefaultClassLoader());
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java
index 0756cce85a9..23a86994427 100644
--- a/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java
+++ b/org.springframework.core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 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.
@@ -198,6 +198,7 @@ public class PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver implements ResourcePatternResol
 	 * Create a new PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver with a DefaultResourceLoader.
 	 * @param classLoader the ClassLoader to load classpath resources with,
 	 * or <code>null</code> for using the thread context class loader
+	 * at the time of actual resource access
 	 * @see org.springframework.core.io.DefaultResourceLoader
 	 */
 	public PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver(ClassLoader classLoader) {