diff --git a/django/core/urlresolvers.py b/django/core/urlresolvers.py
index ac83756f31..b3dcfdb8c1 100644
--- a/django/core/urlresolvers.py
+++ b/django/core/urlresolvers.py
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ 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 a7283d43bb..9def6b2eb2 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@ Traceback (most recent call last):
 ImproperlyConfigured: The included urlconf regressiontests.urlpatterns_reverse.no_urls doesn't have any patterns in it
 """}
 
+import unittest
 
-from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse, NoReverseMatch
+from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse, resolve, NoReverseMatch, Resolver404
 from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect, HttpResponsePermanentRedirect
 from django.shortcuts import redirect
 from django.test import TestCase
@@ -112,6 +113,21 @@ 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, '.')
+
 class ReverseShortcutTests(TestCase):
     urls = 'regressiontests.urlpatterns_reverse.urls'