diff --git a/tests/empty.cpp b/tests/empty.cpp
index 4941f50..a970347 100644
--- a/tests/empty.cpp
+++ b/tests/empty.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(empty)
     BOOST_CHECK_THROW( empty2.fromBinary( &empty1, 42 ),
                        std::runtime_error );
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL( empty2.toJSON(), "{}" );
-    BOOST_CHECK_THROW( empty2.fromJSON( "{}" ), std::runtime_error );
-    BOOST_CHECK_THROW( empty2.fromJSON( "blubb" ), std::runtime_error );
+    BOOST_CHECK( empty2.fromJSON( "{}" ));
+    BOOST_CHECK( empty2.fromJSON( "blubb" ));
     BOOST_CHECK_NO_THROW( std::cout << empty1 );
 }
diff --git a/zerobuf/Zerobuf.cpp b/zerobuf/Zerobuf.cpp
index 637a28f..c5dcc8f 100644
--- a/zerobuf/Zerobuf.cpp
+++ b/zerobuf/Zerobuf.cpp
@@ -120,8 +120,7 @@ Data Zerobuf::_toBinary() const
 bool Zerobuf::_fromJSON( const std::string& string )
 {
     if( !_allocator )
-        throw std::runtime_error(
-            "Can't convert empty Zerobuf object from JSON" );
+        return true;
 
     Json::Value json;
     Json::Reader reader;