diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 5b877e6078..c981a28e58 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -521,9 +521,6 @@ Release 2.6.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-10830. Missing lock in JavaKeyStoreProvider.createCredentialEntry.
     (Benoy Antony via umamahesh)
 
-    HADOOP-10876. The constructor of Path should not take an empty URL as a
-    parameter. (Zhihai Xu via wang)
-
     HADOOP-10928. Incorrect usage on `hadoop credential list`.
     (Josh Elser via wang)
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java
index 0e8db1df11..54ddedaff1 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/Path.java
@@ -128,20 +128,7 @@ public class Path implements Comparable {
            "Can not create a Path from an empty string");
     }   
   }
-
-  /** check URI parameter of Path constructor. */
-  private void checkPathArg(URI aUri) throws IllegalArgumentException {
-    // disallow construction of a Path from an empty URI
-    if (aUri == null) {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-          "Can not create a Path from a null URI");
-    }
-    if (aUri.toString().isEmpty()) {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-          "Can not create a Path from an empty URI");
-    }
-  }
-
+  
   /** Construct a path from a String.  Path strings are URIs, but with
    * unescaped elements and some additional normalization. */
   public Path(String pathString) throws IllegalArgumentException {
@@ -189,7 +176,6 @@ public class Path implements Comparable {
    * Construct a path from a URI
    */
   public Path(URI aUri) {
-    checkPathArg(aUri);
     uri = aUri.normalize();
   }
   
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestPath.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestPath.java
index 54d25c995b..94908da7a3 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestPath.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/TestPath.java
@@ -26,13 +26,11 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.AvroTestUtil;
-import org.apache.hadoop.test.GenericTestUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.Shell;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Joiner;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
-import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 public class TestPath extends TestCase {
   /**
@@ -307,28 +305,6 @@ public class TestPath extends TestCase {
     // if the child uri is absolute path
     assertEquals("foo://bar/fud#boo", new Path(new Path(new URI(
         "foo://bar/baz#bud")), new Path(new URI("/fud#boo"))).toString());
-
-    // empty URI
-    URI uri3 = new URI("");
-    assertEquals("", uri3.toString());
-    try {
-      path = new Path(uri3);
-      fail("Expected exception for empty URI");
-    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-      // expect to receive an IllegalArgumentException
-      GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains("Can not create a Path"
-          + " from an empty URI", e);
-    }
-    // null URI
-    uri3 = null;
-    try {
-      path = new Path(uri3);
-      fail("Expected exception for null URI");
-    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-      // expect to receive an IllegalArgumentException
-      GenericTestUtils.assertExceptionContains("Can not create a Path"
-          + " from a null URI", e);
-    }
   }
 
   /** Test URIs created from Path objects */