diff --git a/django/core/urlresolvers.py b/django/core/urlresolvers.py
index c8642e738f..a63b822d28 100644
--- a/django/core/urlresolvers.py
+++ b/django/core/urlresolvers.py
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@ class RegexURLResolver(object):
                         return sub_match[0], sub_match[1], sub_match_dict
                     tried.append(pattern.regex.pattern)
             raise Resolver404, {'tried': tried, 'path': new_path}
+        raise Resolver404, {'tried': [], 'path' : path}
 
     def _get_urlconf_module(self):
         try:
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
index 379197085a..522f5f8e9e 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 Unit tests for reverse URL lookups.
 """
 
-from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse, NoReverseMatch
+import unittest
+
+from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse, resolve, NoReverseMatch, Resolver404
 from django.test import TestCase
 
 test_data = (
@@ -96,3 +98,17 @@ class URLPatternReverse(TestCase):
             else:
                 self.assertEquals(got, expected)
 
+class ResolverTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_non_regex(self):
+        """
+        Verifies that we raise a Resolver404 if what we are resolving doesn't
+        meet the basic requirements of a path to match - i.e., at the very
+        least, it matches the root pattern '^/'. We must never return None
+        from resolve, or we will get a TypeError further down the line.
+
+        Regression for #10834.
+        """
+        self.assertRaises(Resolver404, resolve, '')
+        self.assertRaises(Resolver404, resolve, 'a')
+        self.assertRaises(Resolver404, resolve, '\\')
+        self.assertRaises(Resolver404, resolve, '.')