diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/Check.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/Check.java
index d3b5f7d95..f7c7f8fe3 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/Check.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/Check.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public abstract class Check extends AutomaticBean
     private int mTabWidth = 8; // meaningful default
 
     /** the severity level of any violations found */
-    private SeverityLevel mSeverityLevel = SeverityLevel.ERROR;
+    private SeverityLevel mSeverityLevel = SeverityLevel.DEFAULT_LEVEL;
 
     /** current class loader */
     private ClassLoader mLoader =
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/LocalizedMessage.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/LocalizedMessage.java
index f5eb2a495..f287fdbf2 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/LocalizedMessage.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/LocalizedMessage.java
@@ -55,8 +55,6 @@ public final class LocalizedMessage
 
     /** the severity level **/
     private final SeverityLevel mSeverityLevel;
-    /** the default severity level if one is not specified */
-    private static final SeverityLevel DEFAULT_SEVERITY = SeverityLevel.WARNING;
 
     /** key for the message format **/
     private final String mKey;
@@ -129,7 +127,7 @@ public final class LocalizedMessage
         mKey = aKey;
         mArgs = aArgs;
         mBundle = aBundle;
-        mSeverityLevel = DEFAULT_SEVERITY;
+        mSeverityLevel = SeverityLevel.DEFAULT_LEVEL;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/SeverityLevel.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/SeverityLevel.java
index c87d5e8f7..1ed6e97b7 100755
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/SeverityLevel.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/api/SeverityLevel.java
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ public final class SeverityLevel implements Comparable, Serializable
     public static final SeverityLevel ERROR =
         new SeverityLevel(SEVERITYCODE_ERROR, SEVERITYNAME_ERROR);
 
+    /** the default severity */
+    public static final SeverityLevel DEFAULT_LEVEL = ERROR;
+    
     /** map from level names to the respective level */
     private static final Map NAME_TO_LEVEL = new HashMap();
     static {