diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index b1ad4a1..d189f82 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -14,3 +14,8 @@ sk89q
 
 spahl
     * Heads up on the signal hack and fix for a compiler warning.
+
+Mike West
+    * Reported bug in Context.max_time
+    * Better test for test_exceeds_time
+
diff --git a/spidermonkey/context.c b/spidermonkey/context.c
index bb118e8..db9f675 100644
--- a/spidermonkey/context.c
+++ b/spidermonkey/context.c
@@ -509,13 +509,13 @@ PyObject*
 Context_max_time(Context* self, PyObject* args, PyObject* kwargs)
 {
     PyObject* ret = NULL;
-    time_t curr_max = (time_t) -1;
-    time_t new_max = (time_t) -1;
+    int curr_max = -1;
+    int new_max = -1;
 
-    if(!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|I", &new_max)) goto done;
+    if(!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|i", &new_max)) goto done;
 
     curr_max = self->max_time;
-    if(new_max != ((time_t) -1)) self->max_time = new_max;
+    if(new_max > 0) self->max_time = (time_t) new_max;
 
     ret = PyLong_FromLong((long) curr_max);
 
diff --git a/tests/test-context.py b/tests/test-context.py
index 488c5ba..fe079db 100644
--- a/tests/test-context.py
+++ b/tests/test-context.py
@@ -38,8 +38,13 @@ def test_get_set_limits(cx):
 
 @t.cx()
 def test_exceed_time(cx):
+    script = """
+        var time = function() {return (new Date()).getTime();};
+        var start = time();
+        while((time() - start) < 2000) {}
+    """
     cx.max_time(1)
-    t.raises(SystemError, cx.execute, "while(true) {}")
+    t.raises(SystemError, cx.execute, script)
 
 @t.cx()
 def test_does_not_exceed_time(cx):