diff --git a/src/pkg/net/url/url.go b/src/pkg/net/url/url.go
index 95432f4337..597cb51c88 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/url/url.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/url/url.go
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ func (u *URL) String() string {
 				buf.WriteString(h)
 			}
 		}
-		if u.Path != "" && u.Path[0] != '/' {
+		if u.Path != "" && u.Path[0] != '/' && u.Host != "" {
 			buf.WriteByte('/')
 		}
 		buf.WriteString(escape(u.Path, encodePath))
diff --git a/src/pkg/net/url/url_test.go b/src/pkg/net/url/url_test.go
index 24f84e58ff..7578eb15b9 100644
--- a/src/pkg/net/url/url_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/net/url/url_test.go
@@ -260,6 +260,14 @@ var urltests = []URLTest{
 		},
 		"mailto:webmaster@golang.org",
 	},
+	// Relative path
+	{
+		"a/b/c",
+		&URL{
+			Path: "a/b/c",
+		},
+		"a/b/c",
+	},
 }
 
 // more useful string for debugging than fmt's struct printer