diff --git a/gitlint/cli.py b/gitlint/cli.py
index 3b51b27e..154d203f 100644
--- a/gitlint/cli.py
+++ b/gitlint/cli.py
@@ -141,8 +141,10 @@ def lint(ctx):
     linter = GitLinter(lint_config)
     first_violation = True
 
+    exit_code = 0
     for commit in gitcontext.commits:
         violations = linter.lint(commit)
+        exit_code += len(violations)
         if violations:
             # Display the commit hash & new lines intelligently
             if number_of_commits > 1 and commit.sha:
@@ -153,7 +155,7 @@ def lint(ctx):
             linter.print_violations(violations)
             first_violation = False
 
-    exit_code = min(MAX_VIOLATION_ERROR_CODE, len(violations))
+    exit_code = min(MAX_VIOLATION_ERROR_CODE, exit_code)
     ctx.exit(exit_code)
 
 
diff --git a/gitlint/tests/test_cli.py b/gitlint/tests/test_cli.py
index 73a295aa..fe502d02 100644
--- a/gitlint/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/gitlint/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ def test_lint_multiple_commits(self, sys, sh):
                         u"Commit 4da2656b0d:\n"
                         u'3: B5 Body message is too short (12<20): "commït-body3"\n')
             self.assertEqual(stderr.getvalue(), expected)
-            self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 1)
+            self.assertEqual(result.exit_code, 3)
 
     def test_input_stream(self):
         expected_output = u"1: T2 Title has trailing whitespace: \"WIP: tïtle \"\n" + \
diff --git a/qa/test_commits.py b/qa/test_commits.py
index ed3a850e..82deafbc 100644
--- a/qa/test_commits.py
+++ b/qa/test_commits.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ def test_violations(self):
         self._create_simple_commit(u"Sïmple title3.\n")
         commit_sha2 = self.get_last_commit_hash()[:10]
         output = gitlint("--commits", "test-branch-commits-violations-base...test-branch-commits-violations",
-                         _cwd=self.tmp_git_repo, _tty_in=True, _ok_code=[2])
+                         _cwd=self.tmp_git_repo, _tty_in=True, _ok_code=[4])
         expected = (u"Commit {0}:\n".format(commit_sha2) +
                     u"1: T3 Title has trailing punctuation (.): \"Sïmple title3.\"\n" +
                     u"3: B6 Body message is missing\n"
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def test_violations(self):
                     u"1: T3 Title has trailing punctuation (.): \"Sïmple title2.\"\n"
                     u"3: B6 Body message is missing\n")
 
-        self.assertEqual(output.exit_code, 2)
+        self.assertEqual(output.exit_code, 4)
         self.assertEqual(output, expected)
 
     def test_single_commit(self):