diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/support/ReflectiveMethodResolver.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/support/ReflectiveMethodResolver.java
index 019faf2836..33d1f510b1 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/support/ReflectiveMethodResolver.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/support/ReflectiveMethodResolver.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2010 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2011 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ public class ReflectiveMethodResolver implements MethodResolver {
 		try {
 			TypeConverter typeConverter = context.getTypeConverter();
 			Class<?> type = (targetObject instanceof Class ? (Class<?>) targetObject : targetObject.getClass());
-			Method[] methods = type.getMethods();
+			Method[] methods = getMethods(type);
 
 			// If a filter is registered for this type, call it
 			MethodFilter filter = (this.filters != null ? this.filters.get(type) : null);
@@ -197,4 +197,16 @@ public class ReflectiveMethodResolver implements MethodResolver {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Return the set of methods for this type. The default implementation returns the
+	 * result of Class#getMethods for the given {@code type}, but subclasses may override
+	 * in order to alter the results, e.g. specifying static methods declared elsewhere.
+	 *
+	 * @param type the class for which to return the methods
+	 * @since 3.1.1
+	 */
+	protected Method[] getMethods(Class<?> type) {
+		return type.getMethods();
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.springframework.expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpringEL300Tests.java b/org.springframework.expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpringEL300Tests.java
index e28f9dd3a1..0fa4d1fbd1 100644
--- a/org.springframework.expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpringEL300Tests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpringEL300Tests.java
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@
 package org.springframework.expression.spel;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ import org.springframework.expression.EvaluationException;
 import org.springframework.expression.Expression;
 import org.springframework.expression.ExpressionParser;
 import org.springframework.expression.MethodExecutor;
+import org.springframework.expression.MethodResolver;
 import org.springframework.expression.ParserContext;
 import org.springframework.expression.PropertyAccessor;
 import org.springframework.expression.TypedValue;
@@ -1137,6 +1140,41 @@ public class SpringEL300Tests extends ExpressionTestCase {
 		public Map<String, String> getFourthContext() {return fourthContext;}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Test the ability to subclass the ReflectiveMethodResolver and change how it
+	 * determines the set of methods for a type.
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void testCustomStaticFunctions_SPR9038() {
+		try {
+			ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
+			StandardEvaluationContext context = new StandardEvaluationContext();
+			List<MethodResolver> methodResolvers = new ArrayList<MethodResolver>();
+			methodResolvers.add(new ReflectiveMethodResolver() {
+				@Override
+				protected Method[] getMethods(Class<?> type) {
+					try {
+						return new Method[] {
+								Integer.class.getDeclaredMethod("parseInt", new Class[] {
+										String.class, Integer.TYPE }) };
+					} catch (NoSuchMethodException e1) {
+						return new Method[0];
+					}
+				}
+			});
+
+			context.setMethodResolvers(methodResolvers);
+			org.springframework.expression.Expression expression =
+					parser.parseExpression("parseInt('-FF', 16)");
+
+			Integer result = expression.getValue(context, "", Integer.class);
+			assertEquals("Equal assertion failed: ", -255, result.intValue());
+		} catch (Exception e) {
+			e.printStackTrace();
+			fail("Unexpected exception: "+e.toString());
+		}
+	}
+
 }