diff --git a/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp b/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
index 1345ab795..3d06dcc35 100644
--- a/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/symbol-impl.cpp
@@ -67,10 +67,13 @@ namespace lib {
   size_t hash_value (Literal sym)
   {
     size_t hash=0;
-    const char *pos = sym;
-    size_t maxpos = STRING_MAX_RELEVANT;
-    for ( ; pos && --maxpos; ++pos)
-      hash_combine(hash, *pos);
+    if (sym)
+      {
+        const char *pos = sym;
+        size_t maxpos = STRING_MAX_RELEVANT;
+        for ( ; *pos && --maxpos; ++pos)
+          hash_combine(hash, *pos);
+      }
     
     return hash;
   }
diff --git a/tests/lib/symbol-hashtable-test.cpp b/tests/lib/symbol-hashtable-test.cpp
index 92fd43a34..2e74f7b3c 100644
--- a/tests/lib/symbol-hashtable-test.cpp
+++ b/tests/lib/symbol-hashtable-test.cpp
@@ -23,16 +23,18 @@
 
 
 #include "lib/test/run.hpp"
+#include "lib/test/test-helper.hpp"
 #include "lib/util.hpp"
 
 #include "lib/symbol.hpp"
 
 #include <boost/functional/hash.hpp>
 #include <tr1/unordered_map>
+#include <cstring>
 #include <string>
 
-using util::isnil;
 using util::contains;
+using util::isnil;
 
 
 
@@ -67,6 +69,8 @@ namespace test{
       void
       run (Arg)
         {
+          checkHashFunction();
+          
           HTable table;
           ASSERT (isnil(table));
           
@@ -95,6 +99,63 @@ namespace test{
           ASSERT (isnil (table[KEY5])); // adds a new empty value object as side effect
           ASSERT (5 == table.size());
         }
+      
+      
+      void
+      checkHashFunction()
+        {
+          string random = randStr(STRING_MAX_RELEVANT+1);
+          
+          string copy1(random);
+          copy1[5] = '\0';      // truncate the c-String to 5 chars
+          
+          string copy2(random);           
+          copy2[rand() % STRING_MAX_RELEVANT] = '*';  // modify a random position
+          
+          string copy3(copy2);
+          copy3[STRING_MAX_RELEVANT]          = '*';  // modify behind observation limit
+          
+          Symbol  l0;
+          Literal l51 (copy1.c_str());
+          Literal l52 (random.substr(0,5).c_str());
+          
+          Literal l_1 (random.c_str());
+          Literal l_2 (copy2.c_str());
+          Literal l_3 (copy3.c_str());
+          
+          ASSERT (isnil (l0));
+          ASSERT (l0  != l51);
+          ASSERT (l51 == l52);
+          
+          ASSERT (l51 != l_1);
+          ASSERT (l_1 != l_2);
+          ASSERT (l_2 == l_3);  // difference not detected due to observation limit...
+          ASSERT (!std::strncmp (l_2, l_3, STRING_MAX_RELEVANT  ));
+          ASSERT ( std::strncmp (l_2, l_3, STRING_MAX_RELEVANT+1));
+          
+          size_t h0   = hash_value (l0);
+          size_t h51  = hash_value (l51);
+          size_t h52  = hash_value (l52);
+          size_t h_1  = hash_value (l_1);
+          size_t h_2  = hash_value (l_2);
+          size_t h_3  = hash_value (l_3);
+          
+          ASSERT (h0  == 0);
+          ASSERT (h51 != 0);
+          ASSERT (h52 != 0);
+          ASSERT (h_1 != 0);
+          ASSERT (h_2 != 0);
+          ASSERT (h_3 != 0);
+          
+          ASSERT (h51 == h52);    // verify the hash function indeed stops at '\0'
+          ASSERT (h51 != h_1);    // share a common prefix, but the hash differs
+          ASSERT (h_1 != h_2);    // the single random modification is detected
+          ASSERT (h_2 == h_3);    // because l_2 and l_3 differ behind the fixed observation limit
+          
+          ASSERT (h_1 == hash_value (l_1)); //reproducible
+          ASSERT (h_2 == hash_value (l_2));
+          ASSERT (h_3 == hash_value (l_3));
+        }
     };
   
   LAUNCHER (SymbolHashtable_test, "function common");