diff --git oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/SegmentNodeStore.java oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/SegmentNodeStore.java
index ad1b7a7..978c5ce 100644
--- oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/SegmentNodeStore.java
+++ oak-segment-tar/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/segment/SegmentNodeStore.java
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ public class SegmentNodeStore implements NodeStore, Observable {
      * Flag controlling the commit lock fairness
      */
     private static final boolean COMMIT_FAIR_LOCK = Boolean
-            .getBoolean("oak.segmentNodeStore.commitFairLock");
+            .parseBoolean(System.getProperty("oak.segmentNodeStore.commitFairLock", "true"));
 
     private SegmentNodeStore(SegmentNodeStoreBuilder builder) {
         if (COMMIT_FAIR_LOCK) {