Index: jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/PropertyImpl.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/PropertyImpl.java	(revision 746932)
+++ jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/PropertyImpl.java	(working copy)
@@ -517,7 +517,11 @@
 
     public void setValue(Calendar value) throws RepositoryException {
         if (value != null) {
-            setValue(session.getValueFactory().createValue(value));
+            try {
+                setValue(session.getValueFactory().createValue(value));
+            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+                throw new ValueFormatException(e.getMessage());
+            }
         } else {
             remove();
         }
Index: jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/query/lucene/DateField.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/query/lucene/DateField.java	(revision 746932)
+++ jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/query/lucene/DateField.java	(working copy)
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@
     /**
      * Converts a millisecond time to a string suitable for indexing.
      * Supported date range is: 30 BC - 3189
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the given <code>time</code> is not
+     *                                  within the supported date range.
      */
     public static String timeToString(long time) {
 
@@ -81,13 +83,13 @@
 
 
         if (time < 0) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("time too early");
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("time too early");
         }
 
         String s = Long.toString(time, Character.MAX_RADIX);
 
         if (s.length() > DATE_LEN) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("time too late");
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("time too late");
         }
 
         // Pad with leading zeros
Index: jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/query/lucene/NodeIndexer.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/query/lucene/NodeIndexer.java	(revision 746932)
+++ jackrabbit-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/query/lucene/NodeIndexer.java	(working copy)
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Date;
 
 /**
  * Creates a lucene <code>Document</code> object from a {@link javax.jcr.Node}.
@@ -505,8 +506,13 @@
     protected void addCalendarValue(Document doc, String fieldName, Object internalValue) {
         Calendar value = (Calendar) internalValue;
         long millis = value.getTimeInMillis();
-        doc.add(createFieldWithoutNorms(fieldName, DateField.timeToString(millis),
-                PropertyType.DATE));
+        try {
+            doc.add(createFieldWithoutNorms(fieldName, DateField.timeToString(millis),
+                    PropertyType.DATE));
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            log.warn("'{}' is outside of supported date value range.",
+                    new Date(value.getTimeInMillis()));
+        }
     }
 
     /**
Index: jackrabbit-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/InvalidDateTest.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/InvalidDateTest.java	(revision 0)
+++ jackrabbit-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/InvalidDateTest.java	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * 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.
+ */
+package org.apache.jackrabbit.core;
+
+import java.util.Calendar;
+
+import javax.jcr.RepositoryException;
+import javax.jcr.Node;
+import javax.jcr.ValueFormatException;
+import javax.jcr.PropertyType;
+
+import org.apache.jackrabbit.test.AbstractJCRTest;
+
+/**
+ * <code>InvalidDateTest</code> contains tests for JCR-1996.
+ */
+public class InvalidDateTest extends AbstractJCRTest {
+
+    public void testDateRange() throws RepositoryException {
+        Calendar cal = Calendar.getInstance();
+        cal.add(Calendar.YEAR, 20000);
+        Node n = testRootNode.addNode(nodeName1);
+        try {
+            superuser.getValueFactory().createValue(cal);
+            fail("must throw IllegalArgumentException");
+        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+            // expected
+        }
+        try {
+            n.setProperty(propertyName1, cal);
+            fail("must throw ValueFormatException");
+        } catch (ValueFormatException e) {
+            // expected
+        }
+        String calString = superuser.getValueFactory().createValue(
+                Calendar.getInstance()).getString();
+        calString = "1" + calString;
+        try {
+            n.setProperty(propertyName1, calString, PropertyType.DATE);
+            fail("must throw ValueFormatException");
+        } catch (ValueFormatException e) {
+            // expected
+        }
+    }
+}

Property changes on: jackrabbit-core\src\test\java\org\apache\jackrabbit\core\InvalidDateTest.java
___________________________________________________________________
Added: svn:eol-style
   + native

Index: jackrabbit-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/TestAll.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/TestAll.java	(revision 746932)
+++ jackrabbit-core/src/test/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/core/TestAll.java	(working copy)
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
         suite.addTestSuite(RestoreAndCheckoutTest.class);
         suite.addTestSuite(NodeImplTest.class);
         suite.addTestSuite(RetentionRegistryImplTest.class);
+        suite.addTestSuite(InvalidDateTest.class);
 
         return suite;
     }
Index: jackrabbit-jcr-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/util/ISO8601.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-jcr-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/util/ISO8601.java	(revision 746932)
+++ jackrabbit-jcr-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/util/ISO8601.java	(working copy)
@@ -211,23 +211,14 @@
      * @param cal the time value to be formatted into a date/time string.
      * @return the formatted date/time string.
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if a <code>null</code> argument is passed
+     * or the calendar cannot be represented as defined by ISO 8601 (i.e. year
+     * with more than four digits).
      */
-    public static String format(Calendar cal) {
+    public static String format(Calendar cal) throws IllegalArgumentException {
         if (cal == null) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("argument can not be null");
         }
 
-        // determine era and adjust year if necessary
-        int year = cal.get(Calendar.YEAR);
-        if (cal.isSet(Calendar.ERA)
-                && cal.get(Calendar.ERA) == GregorianCalendar.BC) {
-            /**
-             * calculate year using astronomical system:
-             * year n BCE => astronomical year -n + 1
-             */
-            year = 0 - year + 1;
-        }
-
         /**
          * the format of the date/time string is:
          * YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.SSSTZD
@@ -237,7 +228,7 @@
          */
         StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
         // year ([-]YYYY)
-        buf.append(XXXX_FORMAT.format(year));
+        buf.append(XXXX_FORMAT.format(getYear(cal)));
         buf.append('-');
         // month (MM)
         buf.append(XX_FORMAT.format(cal.get(Calendar.MONTH) + 1));
@@ -272,4 +263,32 @@
         }
         return buf.toString();
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the astonomical year of the given calendar.
+     *
+     * @param cal a calendar instance.
+     * @return the astronomical year.
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if calendar cannot be represented as
+     *                                  defined by ISO 8601 (i.e. year with more
+     *                                  than four digits).
+     */
+    public static int getYear(Calendar cal) throws IllegalArgumentException {
+        // determine era and adjust year if necessary
+        int year = cal.get(Calendar.YEAR);
+        if (cal.isSet(Calendar.ERA)
+                && cal.get(Calendar.ERA) == GregorianCalendar.BC) {
+            /**
+             * calculate year using astronomical system:
+             * year n BCE => astronomical year -n + 1
+             */
+            year = 0 - year + 1;
+        }
+
+        if (year > 9999 || year < -9999) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Calendar has more than four " +
+                    "year digits, cannot be formatted as ISO8601: " + year);
+        }
+        return year;
+    }
 }
Index: jackrabbit-jcr-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/value/DateValue.java
===================================================================
--- jackrabbit-jcr-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/value/DateValue.java	(revision 746932)
+++ jackrabbit-jcr-commons/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/value/DateValue.java	(working copy)
@@ -37,10 +37,13 @@
      * Constructs a <code>DateValue</code> object representing a date.
      *
      * @param date the date this <code>DateValue</code> should represent
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the given date cannot be represented
+     * as defined by ISO 8601.
      */
-    public DateValue(Calendar date) {
+    public DateValue(Calendar date) throws IllegalArgumentException {
         super(TYPE);
         this.date = date;
+        ISO8601.getYear(date);
     }
 
     /**