diff --git a/Modules/regexmodule.c b/Modules/regexmodule.c
index ad86068..32360f2 100644
--- a/Modules/regexmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/regexmodule.c
@@ -132,8 +132,10 @@
 	re->re_lastok = NULL;
 	result = re_match(&re->re_patbuf, buffer, size, offset, &re->re_regs);
 	if (result < -1) {
-		/* Failure like stack overflow */
-		PyErr_SetString(RegexError, "match failure");
+		/* Serious failure of some sort; if re_match didn't 
+		   set an exception, raise a generic error */
+	        if (!PyErr_Occurred())
+		        PyErr_SetString(RegexError, "match failure");
 		return NULL;
 	}
 	if (result >= 0) {
@@ -174,8 +176,10 @@
 	result = re_search(&re->re_patbuf, buffer, size, offset, range,
 			   &re->re_regs);
 	if (result < -1) {
-		/* Failure like stack overflow */
-		PyErr_SetString(RegexError, "match failure");
+		/* Serious failure of some sort; if re_match didn't 
+		   set an exception, raise a generic error */
+	        if (!PyErr_Occurred())
+	  	        PyErr_SetString(RegexError, "match failure");
 		return NULL;
 	}
 	if (result >= 0) {