diff --git a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/jscript/ScriptNode.java b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/jscript/ScriptNode.java
index 623767e2ad..5d8fd93605 100644
--- a/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/jscript/ScriptNode.java
+++ b/source/java/org/alfresco/repo/jscript/ScriptNode.java
@@ -478,11 +478,19 @@ public class ScriptNode implements Scopeable, NamespacePrefixResolverProvider
      * childByNamePath returns the Node at the specified 'cm:name' based Path walking the children of this Node.
      *         So a valid call might be:
      *         <code>mynode.childByNamePath("/QA/Testing/Docs");</code>
-     * 
-     * @return The ScriptNode or null if the node is not found.
+     *         
+     * @param path the relative path of the descendant node to find e.g. {@code "/QA/Testing/Docs"}
+     * @return The ScriptNode or {@code null} if the node is not found.
+     *         {@code null} if the specified path is {@code ""}.
+     * @throws NullPointerException if the provided path is {@code null}.
      */
     public ScriptNode childByNamePath(String path)
     {
+        // Ensure that paths that do not represent descendants are not needlessly tokenised. See ALF-20896.
+        if (path == null)        { throw new NullPointerException("Illegal null path"); }
+        else if (path.isEmpty()) { return null; }
+        
+        // We have a path worth looking at...
         ScriptNode child = null;
         
         if (this.services.getDictionaryService().isSubClass(getQNameType(), ContentModel.TYPE_FOLDER))