diff --git a/Source/Modules/java.cxx b/Source/Modules/java.cxx
index b0b124fe0..e65e39978 100644
--- a/Source/Modules/java.cxx
+++ b/Source/Modules/java.cxx
@@ -661,7 +661,8 @@ class JAVA : public Language {
     }
 
     // Get any Java exception classes in the throw typemap
-    if (ParmList *throw_parm_list = Getattr(n,"throws")) {
+    ParmList *throw_parm_list = NULL;
+    if (throw_parm_list = Getattr(n,"throws")) {
       Swig_typemap_attach_parms("throws", throw_parm_list, f);
       for (p = throw_parm_list; p; p=nextSibling(p)) {
         if ((tm = Getattr(p,"tmap:throws"))) {