diff --git a/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp b/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
index 27195be3da6..1deb2bb0594 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/common/ubrk.cpp
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ ubrk_open(UBreakIteratorType type,
     break;
 
   default:
-    U_ASSERT(FALSE);
+    *status = U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR;
   }
 
   // check for allocation error
diff --git a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
index 45e2389607b..fe597ae1857 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
+++ b/icu4c/source/test/cintltst/cbiapts.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /********************************************************************
  * COPYRIGHT: 
- * Copyright (c) 1997-2005, International Business Machines Corporation and
+ * Copyright (c) 1997-2006, International Business Machines Corporation and
  * others. All Rights Reserved.
  ********************************************************************/
 /********************************************************************************
@@ -190,11 +190,11 @@ static void TestBreakIteratorCAPI()
     /*trying to open an illegal iterator*/
     bogus     = ubrk_open((UBreakIteratorType)5, "en_US", text, u_strlen(text), &status);
     if(U_SUCCESS(status)){
-        log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for BOGUS breakiterator. Expected U_MEMORY_ALLOCATION_ERROR\n");
+        log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for BOGUS breakiterator. Expected U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR\n");
     }
     if(U_FAILURE(status)){
-        if(status != U_MEMORY_ALLOCATION_ERROR){
-            log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for BOGUS breakiterator. Expected U_MEMORY_ALLOCATION_ERROR\n Got %s\n", myErrorName(status));
+        if(status != U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR){
+            log_err("FAIL: Error in ubrk_open() for BOGUS breakiterator. Expected U_ILLEGAL_ARGUMENT_ERROR\n Got %s\n", myErrorName(status));
         }
     }
     status=U_ZERO_ERROR;