diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index bd6725b5d..317f0285b 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ Fixed bugs:
  * Resource collection implementation of mapped PropertySet returned
    unusable resources.
 
+ * The hasmethod condition failed with a NullPointerException when
+   ignoresystemclasses is true and Ant tried to load a "restricted
+   class" - i.e. a class that the Java VM will only accept when loaded
+   via the bootclassloader (a java.* class).
+   It will now fail with a more useful error message.
+   Bugzilla Report 51035.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/HasMethod.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/HasMethod.java
index 4f5ce5224..889a9f876 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/HasMethod.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/condition/HasMethod.java
@@ -113,10 +113,12 @@ public class HasMethod extends ProjectComponent implements Condition {
                 try {
                     return loader.findClass(classname);
                 } catch (SecurityException se) {
-                    // class found but restricted name; this is
-                    // actually the case we're looking for in JDK 1.3+,
-                    // so catch the exception and return
-                    return null;
+                    // class found but restricted name
+                    throw new BuildException("class \"" + classname
+                                             + "\" was found but a"
+                                             + " SecurityException has been"
+                                             + " raised while loading it",
+                                             se);
                 }
             } else if (loader != null) {
                 // How do we ever get here?
diff --git a/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/condition/hasmethod-text.xml b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/condition/hasmethod-text.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9ae9b323b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tests/antunit/taskdefs/condition/hasmethod-text.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<!--
+  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  limitations under the License.
+-->
+<project name="equals-test" xmlns:au="antlib:org.apache.ant.antunit"
+         default="antunit">
+
+  <import file="../../antunit-base.xml" />
+
+  <target name="test-missingclass">
+    <au:expectfailure
+       expectedMessage='class "org.example.somepackage.Foo" was not found'>
+      <condition property="foo">
+        <hasmethod classname="org.example.somepackage.Foo"
+                   method="bar"/>
+      </condition>
+    </au:expectfailure>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="test-missingclass-no-sysclasspath">
+    <au:expectfailure
+       expectedMessage='class "org.example.somepackage.Foo" was not found'>
+      <condition property="foo">
+        <hasmethod classname="org.example.somepackage.Foo"
+                   ignoreSystemClasses="true"
+                   method="bar"/>
+      </condition>
+    </au:expectfailure>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="test-restricted-class">
+    <au:assertFalse>
+      <hasmethod classname="java.lang.String"
+                 method="bar"/>
+    </au:assertFalse>
+  </target>
+
+  <target name="test-restricted-class-no-sysclasspath">
+    <au:expectfailure
+       expectedMessage='class "java.lang.String" was found but a SecurityException has been raised while loading it'>
+      <condition property="foo">
+        <hasmethod classname="java.lang.String"
+                   classpath="${java.home}/lib/rt.jar"
+                   ignoreSystemClasses="true"
+                   method="bar"/>
+      </condition>
+    </au:expectfailure>
+  </target>
+
+</project>