diff --git a/corpus.go b/corpus.go
index dc37d95..5dfb830 100644
--- a/corpus.go
+++ b/corpus.go
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ func NewCorpus(basepath string) (Corpus, error) {
 // Contains returns whether the provided filepath exists under this
 // Corpus.
 func (c Corpus) Contains(fpath string) bool {
+	if string(c) == "" {
+		return false
+	}
 	rel, err := filepath.Rel(string(c), fpath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false
diff --git a/corpus_test.go b/corpus_test.go
index 5434304..311cda4 100644
--- a/corpus_test.go
+++ b/corpus_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ func TestContains(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.False(t, goref.Corpus("/a/b/c").Contains("/a/b/d"))
 	assert.False(t, goref.Corpus("/a/b/c").Contains("/"))
 	assert.False(t, goref.Corpus("/a/b/c").Contains("/a/b/"))
+	assert.False(t, goref.Corpus("").Contains("/a/b"))
+	assert.False(t, goref.Corpus("").Contains("/a/b/"))
 }
 
 func TestRel(t *testing.T) {