diff --git a/classpath/avian/SystemClassLoader.java b/classpath/avian/SystemClassLoader.java
index abcf596bd5..2257a9b66e 100644
--- a/classpath/avian/SystemClassLoader.java
+++ b/classpath/avian/SystemClassLoader.java
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ public class SystemClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
 
   private native boolean resourceExists(String name);
 
+  private static native Class resolveClass(ClassLoader loader, byte[] spec)
+    throws ClassNotFoundException;
+
   protected URL findResource(String name) {
     if (resourceExists(name)) {
       try {
@@ -45,11 +48,18 @@ public class SystemClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
   private static Class loadClass(ClassLoader loader,
                                  byte[] nameBytes, int offset, int length)
   {
-    String name = new String(nameBytes, offset, length, false);
+    byte[] spec = new byte[length + 1];
+    System.arraycopy(nameBytes, offset, spec, 0, length);
+
     try {
-      return loader.loadClass(name);
+      Class c = resolveClass(loader, spec);
+      if (c == null) {
+        throw new NoClassDefFoundError();
+      }
+      return c;
     } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
-      NoClassDefFoundError error = new NoClassDefFoundError(name);
+      NoClassDefFoundError error = new NoClassDefFoundError
+        (new String(nameBytes, offset, length, false));
       error.initCause(e);
       throw error;
     }
@@ -158,7 +168,7 @@ public class SystemClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
   private static void parseAnnotationTable(ClassLoader loader,
                                            Addendum addendum)
   {
-    if (addendum != null && addendum.annotationTable != null) {
+    if (addendum != null && addendum.annotationTable instanceof byte[]) {
       try {
         addendum.annotationTable = parseAnnotationTable
           (loader, addendum.pool, new ByteArrayInputStream
diff --git a/src/builtin.cpp b/src/builtin.cpp
index 560f8cc53e..03a4fb01f6 100644
--- a/src/builtin.cpp
+++ b/src/builtin.cpp
@@ -231,6 +231,16 @@ Avian_avian_SystemClassLoader_findClass
   return search(t, name, resolveSystemClass, true);
 }
 
+extern "C" JNIEXPORT int64_t JNICALL
+Avian_avian_SystemClassLoader_resolveClass
+(Thread* t, object, uintptr_t* arguments)
+{
+  object loader = reinterpret_cast<object>(arguments[0]);
+  object spec = reinterpret_cast<object>(arguments[1]);
+
+  return reinterpret_cast<int64_t>(resolveClass(t, loader, spec));
+}
+
 extern "C" JNIEXPORT int64_t JNICALL
 Avian_avian_SystemClassLoader_resourceExists
 (Thread* t, object, uintptr_t* arguments)