diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/named_scope.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/named_scope.rb
index 519941dd945d2d13e7998cd9555dcabac98e9b2c..1f3ef300f2dac0604cc885146f5e9c7c84901d18 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/named_scope.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/named_scope.rb
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ class Scope
       delegate :scopes, :with_scope, :to => :proxy_scope
 
       def initialize(proxy_scope, options, &block)
+        options ||= {}
         [options[:extend]].flatten.each { |extension| extend extension } if options[:extend]
         extend Module.new(&block) if block_given?
         unless Scope === proxy_scope
diff --git a/activerecord/test/cases/named_scope_test.rb b/activerecord/test/cases/named_scope_test.rb
index 8045b136c219e067a210ae562abd0e81a7e24a3d..ae6a54a5bd285cc9fdf940a153a6f1ee3d6a2a5a 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/cases/named_scope_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/cases/named_scope_test.rb
@@ -99,6 +99,12 @@ def test_procedural_scopes
     assert_equal topics_written_before_the_second, Topic.written_before(topics(:second).written_on)
   end
 
+  def test_procedural_scopes_returning_nil
+    all_topics = Topic.find(:all)
+
+    assert_equal all_topics, Topic.written_before(nil)
+  end
+
   def test_scopes_with_joins
     address = author_addresses(:david_address)
     posts_with_authors_at_address = Post.find(
diff --git a/activerecord/test/models/topic.rb b/activerecord/test/models/topic.rb
index f1b7bbae3b07209b5272c2c420c4f87109331441..51012d22edb1f540f9ed3b8305eeef95e828d373 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/models/topic.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/models/topic.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 class Topic < ActiveRecord::Base
   named_scope :base
   named_scope :written_before, lambda { |time|
-    { :conditions => ['written_on < ?', time] }
+    if time
+      { :conditions => ['written_on < ?', time] }
+    end
   }
   named_scope :approved, :conditions => {:approved => true}
   named_scope :rejected, :conditions => {:approved => false}