diff --git a/django/test/html.py b/django/test/html.py
index cca4a48491bc9..4a8a5561e9234 100644
--- a/django/test/html.py
+++ b/django/test/html.py
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ def _count(self, element, count=True):
         if not isinstance(element, six.string_types):
             if self == element:
                 return 1
+        if isinstance(element, RootElement):
+            raise ValueError('Needle HTML does not have a root element')
+
         i = 0
         for child in self.children:
             # child is text content and element is also text content, then
diff --git a/tests/test_utils/tests.py b/tests/test_utils/tests.py
index 0906291d0b768..a46ee63845023 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils/tests.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils/tests.py
@@ -576,7 +576,8 @@ def test_html_contain(self):
         # when a root element is used for the needle but not the haystack
         dom1 = parse_html('<p>foo</p><p>bar</p>')
         dom2 = parse_html('<div><p>foo</p><p>bar</p></div>')
-        self.assertIn(dom1, dom2)
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            self.assertIn(dom1, dom2)
 
     def test_count(self):
         # equal html contains each other one time