diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Configuration.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Configuration.php
index d16b22b54..99ee397cc 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Configuration.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Configuration.php
@@ -516,4 +516,31 @@ class Configuration extends \Doctrine\DBAL\Configuration
         }
         return $this->_attributes['classMetadataFactoryName'];
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * Set default repository class.
+     * 
+     * @since 2.2
+     * @param string $className
+     * @throws ORMException If not implements Doctrine\Common\Persistence\ObjectRepository
+     */
+    public function setDefaultRepositoryClassName($className)
+    {
+        if (!is_subclass_of($className, 'Doctrine\Common\Persistence\ObjectRepository')) {
+            throw ORMException::invalidObjectRepository($className);
+        }
+        $this->_attributes['defaultRepositoryClassName'] = $className;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get default repository class.
+     * 
+     * @since 2.2
+     * @return string
+     */
+    public function getDefaultRepositoryClassName()
+    {
+        return isset($this->_attributes['defaultRepositoryClassName']) ?
+                $this->_attributes['defaultRepositoryClassName'] : 'Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository';
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataInfo.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataInfo.php
index 17255cb23..e34db3f2d 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataInfo.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Mapping/ClassMetadataInfo.php
@@ -1519,12 +1519,17 @@ class ClassMetadataInfo implements ClassMetadata
      * Registers a custom repository class for the entity class.
      *
      * @param string $mapperClassName  The class name of the custom mapper.
+     * @throws MappingException If not implements Doctrine\Common\Persistence\ObjectRepository
      */
     public function setCustomRepositoryClass($repositoryClassName)
     {
         if ($repositoryClassName !== null && strpos($repositoryClassName, '\\') === false 
                 && strlen($this->namespace) > 0) {
             $repositoryClassName = $this->namespace . '\\' . $repositoryClassName;
+            
+            if (!is_subclass_of($repositoryClassName, 'Doctrine\Common\Persistence\ObjectRepository')) {
+                throw MappingException::invalidObjectRepository($repositoryClassName);
+            }
         }
         $this->customRepositoryClassName = $repositoryClassName;
     }
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/ORMException.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/ORMException.php
index 89203359c..c1115c260 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/ORMException.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/ORMException.php
@@ -130,4 +130,9 @@ class ORMException extends Exception
             "Unknown Entity namespace alias '$entityNamespaceAlias'."
         );
     }
+    
+    public static function invalidObjectRepository($className) {
+        return new self("Invalid repository class '".$className."'. ".
+                "it must implement Doctrine\Common\Persistence\ObjectRepository.");
+    }
 }