diff --git a/include/libxml/xpathInternals.h b/include/libxml/xpathInternals.h
index d1c90dff..48eb472d 100644
--- a/include/libxml/xpathInternals.h
+++ b/include/libxml/xpathInternals.h
@@ -516,6 +516,7 @@ XMLPUBFUN void
 
 XMLPUBFUN void
 		xmlXPathRoot			(xmlXPathParserContextPtr ctxt);
+XML_DEPRECATED
 XMLPUBFUN void
 		xmlXPathEvalExpr		(xmlXPathParserContextPtr ctxt);
 XMLPUBFUN xmlChar *
diff --git a/python/generator.py b/python/generator.py
index 2d6abacf..b54e16e3 100755
--- a/python/generator.py
+++ b/python/generator.py
@@ -407,6 +407,7 @@ deprecated_funcs = {
     'xmlValidatePushElement': True,
     'xmlValidateRoot': True,
     'xmlValidate': True,
+    'xmlXPathEvalExpr': True,
     'xmlXPathInit': True,
     'xmlXPtrEvalRangePredicate': True,
     'xmlXPtrNewCollapsedRange': True,
diff --git a/xpath.c b/xpath.c
index 2e649792..e3ca1e16 100644
--- a/xpath.c
+++ b/xpath.c
@@ -12531,6 +12531,8 @@ xmlXPathCompiledEvalToBoolean(xmlXPathCompExprPtr comp,
  * xmlXPathEvalExpr:
  * @ctxt:  the XPath Parser context
  *
+ * DEPRECATED: Internal function, don't use.
+ *
  * Parse and evaluate an XPath expression in the given context,
  * then push the result on the context stack
  */
@@ -12541,7 +12543,7 @@ xmlXPathEvalExpr(xmlXPathParserContextPtr ctxt) {
 #endif
     int oldDepth = 0;
 
-    if (ctxt == NULL)
+    if ((ctxt == NULL) || (ctxt->context == NULL))
         return;
     if (ctxt->context->lastError.code != 0)
         return;