diff --git a/interface/wx/uilocale.h b/interface/wx/uilocale.h
index 4c6bf8be9b..988acfd756 100644
--- a/interface/wx/uilocale.h
+++ b/interface/wx/uilocale.h
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ public:
         see wxLocaleIdent description for more details.
 
         If @a localeId is not recognized or not supported, default ("C") locale
-        is used instead.
+        is used instead. Additionally, if @a localeId is empty (see
+        wxLocaleIdent::IsEmpty()), an assertion failure is triggered.
      */
     explicit wxUILocale(const wxLocaleIdent& localeId);
 
diff --git a/src/common/uilocale.cpp b/src/common/uilocale.cpp
index 1ce2d9f780..4ec4804497 100644
--- a/src/common/uilocale.cpp
+++ b/src/common/uilocale.cpp
@@ -158,6 +158,13 @@ const wxUILocale& wxUILocale::GetCurrent()
 
 wxUILocale::wxUILocale(const wxLocaleIdent& localeId)
 {
+    if ( localeId.IsEmpty() )
+    {
+        wxFAIL_MSG( "Locale identifier must be initialized" );
+        m_impl = NULL;
+        return;
+    }
+
     m_impl = wxUILocaleImpl::CreateForLocale(localeId);
 }