diff --git a/lisp/ChangeLog b/lisp/ChangeLog
index dc024b9d313..020f3237e33 100644
--- a/lisp/ChangeLog
+++ b/lisp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2010-09-04  Stefan Monnier  <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
+
+	* emacs-lisp/syntax.el (syntax-ppss): More sanity check to catch
+	border case in change-log-mode.
+
 2010-09-04  Chong Yidong  <cyd@stupidchicken.com>
 
 	* progmodes/compile.el (compilation-error-regexp-alist-alist):
diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/syntax.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/syntax.el
index 5cc89596ef5..1ac6e266f0f 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/syntax.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/syntax.el
@@ -209,7 +209,8 @@ Point is at POS when this function returns."
 				(funcall syntax-begin-function)
 				;; Make sure it's better.
 				(> (point) pt-best))
-			 ;; Simple sanity check.
+			 ;; Simple sanity checks.
+                         (< (point) pos) ; backward-paragraph can fail here.
 			 (not (memq (get-text-property (point) 'face)
 				    '(font-lock-string-face font-lock-doc-face
 				      font-lock-comment-face))))