diff --git a/collects/racket/private/case.rkt b/collects/racket/private/case.rkt
index 1609e25402..201316b59b 100644
--- a/collects/racket/private/case.rkt
+++ b/collects/racket/private/case.rkt
@@ -32,18 +32,45 @@
                              (case/dispatch   tmp [(k ...) e1 e2 ...] ... [else x1 x2 ...]))))]
       
       ;; Error cases
-      [(_ v (bad e1 e2 ...) . rest)
-       (raise-syntax-error 
-        #f
-        "bad syntax (not a datum sequence)"
-        stx
-        (syntax bad))]
-      [(_ v clause . rest)
-       (raise-syntax-error
-        #f
-        "bad syntax (missing expression after datum sequence)"
-        stx
-        (syntax clause))]
+      [(_ v clause ...)
+       (let loop ([clauses (syntax->list #'(clause ...))])
+         (unless (null? clauses)
+           (let ([clause (car clauses)])
+             (syntax-case clause ()
+               [((_ ...) _ _ ...)
+                (loop (cdr clauses))]
+               [((_ ...) . _)
+                (syntax-case clause ()
+                  [(_)
+                   (raise-syntax-error
+                    #f
+                    "bad syntax (missing expression after datum sequence)"
+                    stx
+                    clause)]
+                  [(_ . _)
+                   (raise-syntax-error
+                    #f
+                    "bad syntax (illegal use of `.' in clause)"
+                    stx
+                    clause)]
+                  [_
+                   (raise-syntax-error 
+                    #f
+                    "bad syntax (ill-formed clause)"
+                    stx
+                    clause)])]
+               [(bad . _)
+                (raise-syntax-error 
+                 #f
+                 "bad syntax (not a datum sequence)"
+                 stx
+                 (syntax bad))]
+               [_
+                (raise-syntax-error 
+                 #f
+                 "bad syntax (ill-formed clause)"
+                 stx
+                 (syntax bad))]))))]
       [(_ . v)
        (not (null? (syntax-e (syntax v))))
        (raise-syntax-error 
diff --git a/collects/tests/racket/syntax.rktl b/collects/tests/racket/syntax.rktl
index 788ed8b283..a73c98fefc 100644
--- a/collects/tests/racket/syntax.rktl
+++ b/collects/tests/racket/syntax.rktl
@@ -315,6 +315,16 @@
 			[else #f])))
 (error-test #'(cond [(values 1 2) 8]) arity?)
 (error-test #'(case (values 1 2) [(a) 8]) arity?)
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 []) #rx"ill-formed clause")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(y) 5] []) #rx"ill-formed clause")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [x]) #rx"not a datum sequence")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(y) 5] [x]) #rx"not a datum sequence")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(y) 5] [x x]) #rx"not a datum sequence")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [x x]) #rx"not a datum sequence")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(x)]) #rx"missing expression after datum sequence")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(y) 5] [(x)]) #rx"missing expression after datum sequence")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(x) . 8]) #rx"illegal use of `.'")
+(syntax-test #'(case 1 [(x) 10] . 9) #rx"illegal use of `.'")
 
 ;; test larger `case' dispatches to trigger for binary-search
 ;; and hash-table-based dispatch:
diff --git a/collects/tests/racket/testing.rktl b/collects/tests/racket/testing.rktl
index 661a84b25e..671cbc0314 100644
--- a/collects/tests/racket/testing.rktl
+++ b/collects/tests/racket/testing.rktl
@@ -222,11 +222,14 @@ transcript.
 
 (define no-extra-if-tests? #f)
 
-(define (syntax-test expr)
+(define (syntax-test expr [rx #f])
   (error-test expr exn:fail:syntax?)
   (unless no-extra-if-tests?
     (error-test (datum->syntax expr `(if #f ,expr (void)) expr)
-                exn:fail:syntax?)))
+                (lambda (x)
+                  (and (exn:fail:syntax? x)
+                       (or (not rx)
+                           (regexp-match? rx (exn-message x))))))))
 
 (define arity-test
   (case-lambda