diff --git a/src/share/classes/java/lang/AssertionError.java b/src/share/classes/java/lang/AssertionError.java
index 75e8cd8f02d8036535331ddfbe2c032bc02e7db1..8fb577a6e32191c4df7f57f575d3fc744828b4b5 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/java/lang/AssertionError.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/java/lang/AssertionError.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public class AssertionError extends Error {
      * defined in <i>The Java Language Specification, Second
      * Edition</i>, Section 15.18.1.1.
      *<p>
-     * If the specified object is an instance of <tt>Throwable</tt>, it
+     * If the specified object is an instance of {@code Throwable}, it
      * becomes the <i>cause</i> of the newly constructed assertion error.
      *
      * @param detailMessage value to be used in constructing detail message
@@ -149,4 +149,21 @@ public class AssertionError extends Error {
     public AssertionError(double detailMessage) {
         this("" +  detailMessage);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a new {@code AssertionError} with the specified
+     * detail message and cause.
+     *
+     * <p>Note that the detail message associated with
+     * {@code cause} is <i>not</i> automatically incorporated in
+     * this error's detail message.
+     *
+     * @param  message the detail message, may be {@code null}
+     * @param  cause the cause, may be {@code null}
+     *
+     * @since 1.7
+     */
+    public AssertionError(String message, Throwable cause) {
+        super(message, cause);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/share/classes/java/security/Security.java b/src/share/classes/java/security/Security.java
index 4aea17e38630cbfd533a41ce7b49e5a37567d4b1..81e029b8e968e0c020a4b3f635e23163b714c849 100644
--- a/src/share/classes/java/security/Security.java
+++ b/src/share/classes/java/security/Security.java
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ public final class Security {
             spiMap.put(type, clazz);
             return clazz;
         } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
-            throw (Error)new AssertionError("Spi class not found").initCause(e);
+            throw new AssertionError("Spi class not found", e);
         }
     }