Index: src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestTerm.java
===================================================================
--- src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestTerm.java	(revision 0)
+++ src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestTerm.java	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+package org.apache.lucene.index;
+
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+import org.apache.lucene.store.RAMDirectory;
+import org.apache.lucene.analysis.standard.StandardAnalyzer;
+import org.apache.lucene.document.Document;
+import org.apache.lucene.document.Field;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests related to {@link Term}.
+ *
+ * @author danz
+ */
+public class TestTerm extends TestCase {
+
+    public TestTerm( final String name ) {
+        super( name );
+    }
+
+    protected void setUp() {
+    }
+
+    protected void tearDown() {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call to {@link Term#compareTo} where the {@link Term#text} of the target
+     * is <b>null</b> and the {@link Term#text} of the argument is <b>null</b>.
+     */
+    public void testCompareToTextNullNull() throws IOException {
+        final Term a = new Term( "field" , null , true );
+        final Term b = new Term( "field" , null , true );
+
+        assertEquals( "compareTo result" , 0 , a.compareTo( b ) );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call to {@link Term#compareTo} where the {@link Term#text} of the target
+     * is <b>null</b> and the {@link Term#text} of the argument is <b>not null</b>.
+     */
+    public void testCompareToTextNullNotNull() throws IOException {
+        final Term a = new Term( "field" , null , true );
+        final Term b = new Term( "field" , "abc" , true );
+
+        assertTrue( "compareTo result LE -1" , a.compareTo( b ) <= -1 );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call to {@link Term#compareTo} where the {@link Term#text} of the target
+     * is <b>not null</b> and the {@link Term#text} of the argument is <b>null</b>.
+     */
+    public void testCompareToTextNotNullNull() throws IOException {
+        final Term a = new Term( "field" , "abc" , true );
+        final Term b = new Term( "field" , null , true );
+
+        assertTrue( "compareTo result GE +1" , a.compareTo( b ) >= +1 );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call to {@link Term#compareTo} where the {@link Term#text} of the target
+     * is <b>equal to</b> the {@link Term#text} of the argument.
+     */
+    public void testCompareToTextEquals() throws IOException {
+        final Term a = new Term( "field" , "abc" , true );
+        final Term b = new Term( "field" , "abc" , true );
+
+        assertEquals( "compareTo result" , 0 , a.compareTo( b ) );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call to {@link Term#compareTo} where the {@link Term#text} of the target
+     * is <b>before</b> the {@link Term#text} of the argument.
+     */
+    public void testCompareToTextBefore() throws IOException {
+        final Term a = new Term( "field" , "abc" , true );
+        final Term b = new Term( "field" , "xyz" , true );
+
+        assertTrue( "compareTo result LE -1" , a.compareTo( b ) <= -1 );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Call to {@link Term#compareTo} where the {@link Term#text} of the target
+     * is <b>after</b> the {@link Term#text} of the argument.
+     */
+    public void testCompareToTextAfter() throws IOException {
+        final Term a = new Term( "field" , "xyz" , true );
+        final Term b = new Term( "field" , "abc" , true );
+
+        assertTrue( "compareTo result GE +1" , a.compareTo( b ) >= +1 );
+    }
+
+} // class
Index: src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/Term.java
===================================================================
--- src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/Term.java	(revision 512303)
+++ src/java/org/apache/lucene/index/Term.java	(working copy)
@@ -76,16 +76,26 @@
     return compareTo((Term)other);
   }
 
-  /** Compares two terms, returning a negative integer if this
-    term belongs before the argument, zero if this term is equal to the
-    argument, and a positive integer if this term belongs after the argument.
-
-    The ordering of terms is first by field, then by text.*/
-  public final int compareTo(Term other) {
-    if (field == other.field)			  // fields are interned
-      return text.compareTo(other.text);
-    else
-      return field.compareTo(other.field);
+  /** 
+   * Compares two terms, returning a negative integer if this term 
+   * belongs before the argument, 0 (zero) if this term is equal to the 
+   * argument, and a positive integer if this term belongs after the 
+   * argument. The ordering of terms is first by field, then by text.
+   */
+  public final int compareTo( final Term other ) {
+    if ( field == other.field ) { // fields are interned
+      if ( text == null && other.text == null ) {
+        return 0;
+      } else if ( text == null ) {
+        return -1;
+      } else if ( other.text == null ) {
+        return 1;
+      } else {
+        return text.compareTo( other.text );
+      }
+    } else {
+      return field.compareTo( other.field );
+    }
   }
 
   /** Resets the field and text of a Term. */