diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index c8c961dcb..76c3e727d 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@
                excludes="**/Generated*.java"/>
       <formatter type="plain"/>
       <formatter type="xml" toFile="target/cs_errors.xml"/>
-      <classpath refid="run.classpath"/>
+      <classpath refid="build.classpath"/>
     </checkstyle>
   </target>
 
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Checker.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Checker.java
index aeca8b731..f87b9731d 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Checker.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Checker.java
@@ -107,9 +107,8 @@ public class Checker
         mCache = new PropertyCacheFile(aConfig);
         final Verifier v = new Verifier(aConfig);
         VerifierSingleton.setInstance(v);
-        LocalizedMessage.init(new Locale(mConfig.getLocaleLanguage(),
-                                         mConfig.getLocaleCountry()),
-                              mConfig.getClassLoader());
+        LocalizedMessage.setLocale(new Locale(mConfig.getLocaleLanguage(),
+                                              mConfig.getLocaleCountry()));
     }
 
     /** Cleans up the object **/
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessage.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessage.java
index 560188468..77a870720 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessage.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessage.java
@@ -51,9 +51,6 @@ public class LocalizedMessage
     /** arguments for MessageFormat **/
     private final Object[] mArgs;
 
-    /** the class loader to locate resource bundles with **/
-    private static ClassLoader sLoader;
-
     /**
      * Creates a new <code>LocalizedMessage</code> instance.
      *
@@ -86,9 +83,12 @@ public class LocalizedMessage
     /** @return the translated message **/
     public String getMessage()
     {
-        // Very simple approach - wait for performance problems
+        // Very simple approach - wait for performance problems.
+        // Important to use the default class loader, and not the one in the
+        // Configuration object. This is because the class loader in the
+        // Configuration is specified by the user for resolving custom classes.
         final ResourceBundle bundle =
-            ResourceBundle.getBundle(MESSAGE_BUNDLE, sLocale, sLoader);
+            ResourceBundle.getBundle(MESSAGE_BUNDLE, sLocale);
         final String pattern = bundle.getString(mKey);
         return MessageFormat.format(pattern, mArgs);
     }
@@ -105,16 +105,10 @@ public class LocalizedMessage
         return mColNo;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Initialise the localization of messages
-     *
-     * @param aLocale the locale to use for localization
-     * @param aLoader the class loader to locate resource bundles with
-     */
-    static void init(Locale aLocale, ClassLoader aLoader)
+    /** @param aLocale the locale to use for localization **/
+    static void setLocale(Locale aLocale)
     {
         sLocale = aLocale;
-        sLoader = aLoader;
     }
 
     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckerTest.java b/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckerTest.java
index 3b42eb4f1..2d8fffe5b 100644
--- a/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckerTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/CheckerTest.java
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.io.LineNumberReader;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.PrintStream;
+import java.util.Locale;
+
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import org.apache.regexp.RESyntaxException;
 
@@ -47,6 +49,10 @@ public class CheckerTest
         mConfig.setLeftCurlyOptionProperty(Defn.LCURLY_TYPE_PROP,
                                            LeftCurlyOption.NL);
         mConfig.setRCurly(RightCurlyOption.ALONE);
+        mConfig.setStringProperty(Defn.LOCALE_COUNTRY_PROP,
+                                  Locale.ENGLISH.getCountry());
+        mConfig.setStringProperty(Defn.LOCALE_LANGUAGE_PROP,
+                                  Locale.ENGLISH.getLanguage());
     }
 
     static String getPath(String aFilename)
diff --git a/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessageTest.java b/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessageTest.java
index a1ffe5dd2..46717d1a5 100644
--- a/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessageTest.java
+++ b/src/tests/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/LocalizedMessageTest.java
@@ -12,10 +12,13 @@ public class LocalizedMessageTest
         super(name);
     }
 
+    protected void setUp() throws Exception
+    {
+        LocalizedMessage.setLocale(Locale.ENGLISH);
+    }
+
     public void testMisc()
     {
-        LocalizedMessage.init(Locale.getDefault(),
-                              Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
         LocalizedMessage lm =
             new LocalizedMessage(0, "DefaultLogger.auditFinished", null);
         assertNotNull(lm);