diff --git a/gtsam/linear/HessianFactor.cpp b/gtsam/linear/HessianFactor.cpp
index 8eb34d10c..679ea5879 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/HessianFactor.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/linear/HessianFactor.cpp
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ HessianFactor::HessianFactor(const HessianFactor& gf) :
 
 /* ************************************************************************* */
 HessianFactor::HessianFactor() : info_(matrix_) {
+  // The empty HessianFactor has only a constant error term of zero
+  FastVector<size_t> dims;
+  dims.push_back(1);
+  info_.resize(dims.begin(), dims.end(), false);
+  info_(0,0)(0,0) = 0.0;
 	assertInvariants();
 }
 
diff --git a/gtsam/linear/tests/testHessianFactor.cpp b/gtsam/linear/tests/testHessianFactor.cpp
index 3544f938a..aefdeef99 100644
--- a/gtsam/linear/tests/testHessianFactor.cpp
+++ b/gtsam/linear/tests/testHessianFactor.cpp
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ const double tol = 1e-5;
 /* ************************************************************************* */
 TEST(HessianFactor, emptyConstructor) {
 	HessianFactor f;
-//	f.print();
+	DOUBLES_EQUAL(0.0, f.constantTerm(), 1e-9);        // Constant term should be zero
+	EXPECT(assert_equal(Vector(), f.linearTerm()));    // Linear term should be empty
+	EXPECT(assert_equal(zeros(1,1), f.info()));        // Full matrix should be 1-by-1 zero matrix
+	DOUBLES_EQUAL(0.0, f.error(VectorValues()), 1e-9); // Should have zero error
 }
 
 /* ************************************************************************* */