diff --git a/cake/libs/set.php b/cake/libs/set.php
index 4376f5c05..bed03379a 100644
--- a/cake/libs/set.php
+++ b/cake/libs/set.php
@@ -374,12 +374,12 @@ class Set extends Object {
 			$data = $path;
 			$path = $tmp;
 		}
-		if (empty($data)) {
-			return array();
-		}
 		if (strpos($path, '/') === false) {
 			return Set::classicExtract($data, $path);
 		}
+		if (empty($data)) {
+			return array();
+		}
 		if ($path === '/') {
 			return $data;
 		}
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/set.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/set.test.php
index ed2f4f04c..81f884394 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/set.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/set.test.php
@@ -1052,15 +1052,17 @@ class SetTest extends CakeTestCase {
  */
 	function testSetExtractReturnsEmptyArray() {
 
-		$this->assertEqual(Set::extract(array(), '/Post/id'), array());
+		$this->assertIdentical(Set::extract(array(), '/Post/id'), array());
 
-		$this->assertEqual(Set::extract('/Post/id', array()), array());
+		$this->assertIdentical(Set::extract('/Post/id', array()), array());
 
-		$this->assertEqual(Set::extract('/Post/id', array(
+		$this->assertIdentical(Set::extract('/Post/id', array(
 			array('Post' => array('name' => 'bob')),
 			array('Post' => array('name' => 'jim'))
 		)), array());
 
+		$this->assertIdentical(Set::extract(array(), 'Message.flash'), null);
+
 	}
 /**
  * testClassicExtract method