diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 99ff72c13..1c6d202a5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -313,6 +313,11 @@ upcoming patches so they don't hold up the release.
    locations.
 
 
+### 1.1.3
+ - `null` check before attempting to check a fragment expression, potential fix
+   for this issue over in the layout dialect:
+   https://github.com/ultraq/thymeleaf-layout-dialect/issues/151
+
 ### 1.1.2
  - Relaxed the root element restriction when using the `LEGACYHTML5` template
    mode due to the way the NekoHTML parser works on HTML fragments
diff --git a/Source/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/ExpressionProcessor.java b/Source/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/ExpressionProcessor.java
index 2ee841553..2ff4bc181 100644
--- a/Source/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/ExpressionProcessor.java
+++ b/Source/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/ExpressionProcessor.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.FragmentExpression;
 import org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.IStandardExpression;
 import org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.StandardExpressions;
+import org.thymeleaf.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * A simplified API for working with Thymeleaf expressions.
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ public IStandardExpression parse(String expression) {
      * @return A fragment expression.
      */
     public FragmentExpression parseFragmentExpression(String expression) {
-        if (!THYMELEAF_3_FRAGMENT_EXPRESSION.matcher(expression).matches()) {
+        if (!StringUtils.isEmpty(expression) && !THYMELEAF_3_FRAGMENT_EXPRESSION.matcher(expression).matches()) {
             if (oldFragmentExpressions.add(expression)) {
                 logger.warn(
                         "Fragment expression \"{}\" is being wrapped as a Thymeleaf 3 fragment expression (~{...}) for backwards compatibility purposes.  "
diff --git a/Tests/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/tests/ExpressionProcessorTests.groovy b/Tests/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/tests/ExpressionProcessorTests.groovy
index c929feb4c..9794d246b 100644
--- a/Tests/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/tests/ExpressionProcessorTests.groovy
+++ b/Tests/nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/tests/ExpressionProcessorTests.groovy
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import org.thymeleaf.TemplateEngine
 import org.thymeleaf.context.ExpressionContext
 import org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.FragmentExpression
 import org.thymeleaf.standard.expression.VariableExpression
-import static org.junit.Assert.*
 
 /**
  * Tests for the expression processor module.
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ class ExpressionProcessorTests {
 	void parse() {
 
 		def expression = expressionProcessor.parse('${1 + 1}')
-		assertTrue(expression instanceof VariableExpression)
+		assert expression instanceof VariableExpression
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -76,13 +75,29 @@ class ExpressionProcessorTests {
 		def fragmentExpression
 
 		fragmentExpression = expressionProcessor.parseFragmentExpression('~{hello.html}')
-		assertTrue(fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression)
-		assertEquals(fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext), 'hello.html');
+		assert fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression
+		assert fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext) == 'hello.html'
 
 		// Backwards compatibility test
 		fragmentExpression = expressionProcessor.parseFragmentExpression('hello.html')
-		assertTrue(fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression)
-		assertEquals('hello.html', fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext));
+		assert fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression
+		assert fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext) == 'hello.html'
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * {@code null} testing of fragment expression parsing since it does
+	 * operations on the expression before passing it to the parser.
+	 */
+	@Test
+	void parseFragmentExpressionNull() {
+
+		try {
+			expressionProcessor.parseFragmentExpression(null)
+			assert false
+		}
+		catch (ex) {
+			assert ex instanceof IllegalArgumentException
+		}
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -97,15 +112,15 @@ class ExpressionProcessorTests {
 			'blah',
 			1)
 			}''')
-		assertTrue(fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression)
-		assertEquals('hello', fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext))
+		assert fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression
+		assert fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext) == 'hello'
 
 		// Backwards compatibility test
 		fragmentExpression = expressionProcessor.parseFragmentExpression('''hello::fragment(
 			'blah',
 			1)''')
-		assertTrue(fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression)
-		assertEquals('hello', fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext))
+		assert fragmentExpression instanceof FragmentExpression
+		assert fragmentExpression.templateName.execute(expressionContext) == 'hello'
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -115,7 +130,7 @@ class ExpressionProcessorTests {
 	void process() {
 
 		def result = expressionProcessor.process('${1 + 1}')
-		assertEquals(2, result)
+		assert result == 2
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -125,6 +140,6 @@ class ExpressionProcessorTests {
 	void processAsString() {
 
 		def resultAsString = expressionProcessor.processAsString('${1 + 1}')
-		assertEquals('2', resultAsString)
+		assert resultAsString == '2'
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 0bc3c83da..5e4c9e596 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -385,9 +385,9 @@
                                 <name>nz/net/ultraq/thymeleaf/expressions/</name>
                                 <manifestEntries>
                                     <Implementation-Title>Thymeleaf Expression Processor</Implementation-Title>
-                                    <Implementation-Version>1.1.2</Implementation-Version>
+                                    <Implementation-Version>1.1.3</Implementation-Version>
                                     <Specification-Title>Thymeleaf Expression Processor</Specification-Title>
-                                    <Specification-Version>1.1.2</Specification-Version>
+                                    <Specification-Version>1.1.3</Specification-Version>
                                 </manifestEntries>
                             </manifestSection>
                         </manifestSections>