diff --git a/src/load.c b/src/load.c
index f004525..53241ff 100644
--- a/src/load.c
+++ b/src/load.c
@@ -864,6 +864,8 @@ json_t *json_load_file(const char *path, json_error_t *error)
     json_t *result;
     FILE *fp;
 
+    error_init(error);
+
     fp = fopen(path, "r");
     if(!fp)
     {
diff --git a/test/.gitignore b/test/.gitignore
index 09dfb4d..ac70552 100644
--- a/test/.gitignore
+++ b/test/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ loads_dumps
 load_file_dump_file
 testlogs
 testprogs/test_array
+testprogs/test_load
 testprogs/test_number
 testprogs/test_object
 testprogs/test_simple
diff --git a/test/testprogs/Makefile.am b/test/testprogs/Makefile.am
index 400a998..41807ed 100644
--- a/test/testprogs/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/testprogs/Makefile.am
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
-check_PROGRAMS = test_array test_simple test_number test_object
+check_PROGRAMS = test_array test_load test_simple test_number test_object
 
 test_array_SOURCES = test_array.c util.h
+test_load_SOURCES = test_load.c util.h
 test_simple_SOURCES = test_simple.c util.h
 test_number_SOURCES = test_number.c util.h
 test_object_SOURCES = test_object.c util.h
diff --git a/test/testprogs/test_load.c b/test/testprogs/test_load.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d8fa88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testprogs/test_load.c
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2009 Petri Lehtinen <petri@digip.org>
+ *
+ * Jansson is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.
+ */
+
+#include <jansson.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include "util.h"
+
+int main()
+{
+    json_t *json;
+    json_error_t error;
+
+    json = json_load_file("/path/to/nonexistent/file.json", &error);
+    if(error.line != -1)
+        fail("json_load_file returned an invalid line number");
+    if(strcmp(error.text, "unable to open /path/to/nonexistent/file.json: No such file or directory") != 0)
+        fail("json_load_file returned an invalid error message");
+
+    return 0;
+}