diff --git a/exist-core/src/main/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImpl.java b/exist-core/src/main/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImpl.java
index 9270b1652f..85553c1899 100644
--- a/exist-core/src/main/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImpl.java
+++ b/exist-core/src/main/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImpl.java
@@ -1658,26 +1658,18 @@ public XQueryContext getContext() {
 
     @Override
     public String getBaseURI() {
-        final Element el = getDocumentElement();
-        if(el != null) {
-            final String baseURI = getDocumentElement().getAttributeNS(Namespaces.XML_NS, "base");
-            if(baseURI != null) {
-                return baseURI;
-            }
-        }
         final String docURI = getDocumentURI();
         if(docURI != null) {
             return docURI;
-        } else {
-            if(context!=null && context.isBaseURIDeclared()) {
-                try {
-                    return context.getBaseURI().getStringValue();
-                } catch(final XPathException e) {
-                    //TODO : make something !
-                }
+        }
+        if(context != null && context.isBaseURIDeclared()) {
+            try {
+                return context.getBaseURI().getStringValue();
+            } catch(final XPathException e) {
+                //TODO : make something !
             }
-            return XmldbURI.EMPTY_URI.toString();
         }
+        return XmldbURI.EMPTY_URI.toString();
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/exist-core/src/test/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImplTest.java b/exist-core/src/test/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImplTest.java
index 7fdb1113b9..f53cba862d 100644
--- a/exist-core/src/test/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImplTest.java
+++ b/exist-core/src/test/java/org/exist/dom/memtree/DocumentImplTest.java
@@ -206,6 +206,36 @@ public void testGetInScopePrefix() throws IOException, ParserConfigurationExcept
         assertEquals(Namespaces.XHTML_NS, namespaceUri);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void getBaseURI_withDocumentURI() throws IOException, SAXException, ParserConfigurationException {
+        final DocumentImpl doc;
+        try(final InputStream is = new UnsynchronizedByteArrayInputStream("<root/>".getBytes(UTF_8))) {
+            doc = parseExist(is);
+        }
+        doc.setDocumentURI("file:///intranet/xsl/template.xsl");
+        assertEquals("file:///intranet/xsl/template.xsl", doc.getBaseURI());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void getBaseURI_ignoresXmlBaseOnRoot() throws IOException, SAXException, ParserConfigurationException {
+        final DocumentImpl doc;
+        try(final InputStream is = new UnsynchronizedByteArrayInputStream(
+                "<root xml:base=\"http://example.org/\"/>".getBytes(UTF_8))) {
+            doc = parseExist(is);
+        }
+        doc.setDocumentURI("file:///intranet/xsl/template.xsl");
+        assertEquals("file:///intranet/xsl/template.xsl", doc.getBaseURI());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void getBaseURI_noDocumentURI() throws IOException, SAXException, ParserConfigurationException {
+        final DocumentImpl doc;
+        try(final InputStream is = new UnsynchronizedByteArrayInputStream("<root/>".getBytes(UTF_8))) {
+            doc = parseExist(is);
+        }
+        assertEquals("", doc.getBaseURI());
+    }
+
     private Document parseXerces(final InputStream is) throws ParserConfigurationException, SAXException, IOException {
         final DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
         factory.setNamespaceAware(true);