diff --git a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/main/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/main/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd
index 4405606bc19..7a53516a12e 100644
--- a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/main/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd
+++ b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/main/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 		</xsd:annotation>
 		<xsd:complexType>
 			<xsd:all minOccurs="0">
-				<xsd:element name="message-converters">
+				<xsd:element name="message-converters" minOccurs="0">
 					<xsd:annotation>
 						<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
 	Configures one or more HttpMessageConverter types to use for converting @RequestBody method parameters and @ResponseBody method return values.
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 						</xsd:sequence>
 					</xsd:complexType>
 				</xsd:element>			
-				<xsd:element name="argument-resolvers">
+				<xsd:element name="argument-resolvers" minOccurs="0">
 					<xsd:annotation>
 						<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
 	Configures one or more WebArgumentResolver types to use for resolving custom arguments to handler methods.
diff --git a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests.java b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
index 8aba05e6de7..11f60904e8c 100644
--- a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
-import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.springframework.beans.DirectFieldAccessor;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader;
@@ -42,19 +42,16 @@ import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.AnnotationMethodHandlerExc
  */
 public class AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests {
 
-	private static GenericWebApplicationContext appContext;
+	private GenericWebApplicationContext appContext;
 
-	@BeforeClass
-	public static void setup() {
+	@Before
+	public void setup() {
 		appContext = new GenericWebApplicationContext();
-		XmlBeanDefinitionReader reader = new XmlBeanDefinitionReader(appContext);
-		reader.loadBeanDefinitions(new ClassPathResource("mvc-config-annotation-driven.xml",
-				AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests.class));
-		appContext.refresh();
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	public void testMessageCodesResolver() {
+		loadBeanDefinitions("mvc-config-message-codes-resolver.xml");
 		AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter adapter = appContext.getBean(AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.class);
 		assertNotNull(adapter);
 		Object initializer = new DirectFieldAccessor(adapter).getPropertyValue("webBindingInitializer");
@@ -66,12 +63,14 @@ public class AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests {
 
 	@Test
 	public void testMessageConverters() {
+		loadBeanDefinitions("mvc-config-message-converters.xml");
 		verifyMessageConverters(appContext.getBean(AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.class));
 		verifyMessageConverters(appContext.getBean(AnnotationMethodHandlerExceptionResolver.class));
 	}
 
 	@Test
 	public void testArgumentResolvers() {
+		loadBeanDefinitions("mvc-config-argument-resolvers.xml");
 		AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter adapter = appContext.getBean(AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter.class);
 		assertNotNull(adapter);
 		Object resolvers = new DirectFieldAccessor(adapter).getPropertyValue("customArgumentResolvers");
@@ -82,6 +81,13 @@ public class AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests {
 		assertTrue(((WebArgumentResolver[]) resolvers)[1] instanceof TestWebArgumentResolver);
 	}
 
+	private void loadBeanDefinitions(String fileName) {
+		XmlBeanDefinitionReader reader = new XmlBeanDefinitionReader(appContext);
+		reader.loadBeanDefinitions(new ClassPathResource(fileName,
+				AnnotationDrivenBeanDefinitionParserTests.class));
+		appContext.refresh();
+	}
+
 	private void verifyMessageConverters(Object bean) {
 		assertNotNull(bean);
 		Object converters = new DirectFieldAccessor(bean).getPropertyValue("messageConverters");
diff --git a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-annotation-driven.xml b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-argument-resolvers.xml
similarity index 63%
rename from org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-annotation-driven.xml
rename to org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-argument-resolvers.xml
index 8350a079fdb..7521bb0e698 100644
--- a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-annotation-driven.xml
+++ b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-argument-resolvers.xml
@@ -5,17 +5,11 @@
 	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd">
 
-	<mvc:annotation-driven message-codes-resolver="messageCodesResolver">
+	<mvc:annotation-driven>
 		<mvc:argument-resolvers>
 			<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.config.TestWebArgumentResolver"/>		
 			<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.config.TestWebArgumentResolver"/>		
 		</mvc:argument-resolvers>
-		<mvc:message-converters>
-			<bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.StringHttpMessageConverter"/>
-			<bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.ResourceHttpMessageConverter"/>
-		</mvc:message-converters>
 	</mvc:annotation-driven>
 
-	<bean id="messageCodesResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.config.TestMessageCodesResolver"/>
-
 </beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-message-codes-resolver.xml b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-message-codes-resolver.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0eea3e204f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-message-codes-resolver.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+    xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd">
+
+	<mvc:annotation-driven message-codes-resolver="messageCodesResolver"/>
+
+	<bean id="messageCodesResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.config.TestMessageCodesResolver"/>
+
+</beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-message-converters.xml b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-message-converters.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..258952baf44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.web.servlet/src/test/resources/org/springframework/web/servlet/config/mvc-config-message-converters.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+    xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.1.xsd">
+
+	<mvc:annotation-driven>
+		<mvc:message-converters>
+			<bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.StringHttpMessageConverter"/>
+			<bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.ResourceHttpMessageConverter"/>
+		</mvc:message-converters>
+	</mvc:annotation-driven>
+
+</beans>