diff --git a/lib/Cake/Model/Model.php b/lib/Cake/Model/Model.php
index 11011c877..b68ac9f3e 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Model/Model.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Model/Model.php
@@ -2537,19 +2537,23 @@ class Model extends Object implements CakeEventListener {
 	}
 
 /**
- * Returns true if a record with the currently set ID exists.
+ * Returns true if a record with particular ID exists.
  *
- * Internally calls Model::getID() to obtain the current record ID to verify,
+ * If $id is not passed it calls Model::getID() to obtain the current record ID,
  * and then performs a Model::find('count') on the currently configured datasource
  * to ascertain the existence of the record in persistent storage.
  *
+ * @param mixed $id ID of record to check for existence
  * @return boolean True if such a record exists
  */
-	public function exists() {
-		if ($this->getID() === false) {
+	public function exists($id = null) {
+		if ($id === null) {
+			$id = $this->getID();
+		}
+		if ($id === false) {
 			return false;
 		}
-		$conditions = array($this->alias . '.' . $this->primaryKey => $this->getID());
+		$conditions = array($this->alias . '.' . $this->primaryKey => $id);
 		$query = array('conditions' => $conditions, 'recursive' => -1, 'callbacks' => false);
 		return ($this->find('count', $query) > 0);
 	}
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Model/ModelReadTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Model/ModelReadTest.php
index f4d1ceb33..5292670dc 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Model/ModelReadTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Model/ModelReadTest.php
@@ -24,6 +24,25 @@ require_once dirname(__FILE__) . DS . 'ModelTestBase.php';
  */
 class ModelReadTest extends BaseModelTest {
 
+/**
+ * testExists function
+ * @retun void
+ */
+	public function testExists() {
+		$this->loadFixtures('User');
+		$TestModel = new User();
+
+		$this->assertTrue($TestModel->exists(1));
+
+		$TestModel->id = 2;
+		$this->assertTrue($TestModel->exists());
+
+		$TestModel->delete();
+		$this->assertFalse($TestModel->exists());
+
+		$this->assertFalse($TestModel->exists(2));
+	}
+
 /**
  * testFetchingNonUniqueFKJoinTableRecords()
  *
@@ -7784,18 +7803,18 @@ class ModelReadTest extends BaseModelTest {
 		$this->assertEquals($Post->getVirtualField('other_field'), $Post->virtualFields['other_field']);
 		$this->assertEquals($Post->getVirtualField('Post.other_field'), $Post->virtualFields['other_field']);
 	}
-	
-	
+
+
 /**
  * test that checks for error when NOT condition passed in key and a 1 element array value
  *
  * @return void
- */	
+ */
 	public function testNotInArrayWithOneValue() {
 		$this->loadFixtures('Article');
 		$Article = new Article();
 		$Article->recursive = -1;
-		
+
 		$result = $Article->find(
 			'all',
 			array(
@@ -7804,7 +7823,7 @@ class ModelReadTest extends BaseModelTest {
 				)
 			)
 		);
-		
+
 		$this->assertTrue(is_array($result) && !empty($result));
     }
 }