diff --git a/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php b/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php
index 9a1caeb4..de2a1cb2 100644
--- a/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php
+++ b/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ public function getSchema($id)
     /**
      * {@inheritdoc}
      */
-    public function resolveRef($ref)
+    public function resolveRef($ref, $resolveStack = array())
     {
         $jsonPointer = new JsonPointer($ref);
 
@@ -111,9 +111,9 @@ public function resolveRef($ref)
         $refSchema = $this->getSchema($fileName);
         foreach ($jsonPointer->getPropertyPaths() as $path) {
             if (is_object($refSchema) && property_exists($refSchema, $path)) {
-                $refSchema = $this->resolveRefSchema($refSchema->{$path});
+                $refSchema = $this->resolveRefSchema($refSchema->{$path}, $resolveStack);
             } elseif (is_array($refSchema) && array_key_exists($path, $refSchema)) {
-                $refSchema = $this->resolveRefSchema($refSchema[$path]);
+                $refSchema = $this->resolveRefSchema($refSchema[$path], $resolveStack);
             } else {
                 throw new UnresolvableJsonPointerException(sprintf(
                     'File: %s is found, but could not resolve fragment: %s',
@@ -129,12 +129,18 @@ public function resolveRef($ref)
     /**
      * {@inheritdoc}
      */
-    public function resolveRefSchema($refSchema)
+    public function resolveRefSchema($refSchema, $resolveStack = array())
     {
         if (is_object($refSchema) && property_exists($refSchema, '$ref') && is_string($refSchema->{'$ref'})) {
-            $newSchema = $this->resolveRef($refSchema->{'$ref'});
-            $refSchema = (object) (get_object_vars($refSchema) + get_object_vars($newSchema));
-            unset($refSchema->{'$ref'});
+            if (in_array($refSchema, $resolveStack, true)) {
+                throw new UnresolvableJsonPointerException(sprintf(
+                    'Dereferencing a pointer to %s results in an infinite loop',
+                    $refSchema->{'$ref'}
+                ));
+            }
+            $resolveStack[] = $refSchema;
+
+            return $this->resolveRef($refSchema->{'$ref'}, $resolveStack);
         }
 
         return $refSchema;
diff --git a/tests/RefTest.php b/tests/RefTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b67852c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/RefTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the JsonSchema package.
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace JsonSchema\Tests;
+
+use JsonSchema\Validator;
+
+class RefTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+{
+    public function dataRefIgnoresSiblings()
+    {
+        return array(
+            // #0 check that $ref is resolved and the instance is validated against
+            // the referenced schema
+            array(
+                '{
+                    "definitions":{"test": {"type": "integer"}},
+                    "properties": {
+                        "propertyOne": {"$ref": "#/definitions/test"}
+                    }
+                }',
+                '{"propertyOne": "not an integer"}',
+                false
+            ),
+            // #1 check that sibling properties of $ref are ignored during validation
+            array(
+                '{
+                    "definitions":{
+                        "test": {"type": "integer"}
+                    },
+                    "properties": {
+                        "propertyOne": {
+                            "$ref": "#/definitions/test",
+                            "maximum": 5
+                        }
+                    }
+                }',
+                '{"propertyOne": 10}',
+                true
+            ),
+            // #2 infinite-loop / unresolveable circular reference
+            array(
+                '{
+                    "definitions": {
+                        "test1": {"$ref": "#/definitions/test2"},
+                        "test2": {"$ref": "#/definitions/test1"}
+                    },
+                    "properties": {"propertyOne": {"$ref": "#/definitions/test1"}}
+                }',
+                '{"propertyOne": 5}',
+                true,
+                '\JsonSchema\Exception\UnresolvableJsonPointerException'
+            )
+        );
+    }
+
+    /** @dataProvider dataRefIgnoresSiblings */
+    public function testRefIgnoresSiblings($schema, $document, $isValid, $exception = null)
+    {
+        $document = json_decode($document);
+        $schema = json_decode($schema);
+
+        $v = new Validator();
+        if ($exception) {
+            $this->setExpectedException($exception);
+        }
+
+        $v->validate($document, $schema);
+
+        $this->assertEquals($isValid, $v->isValid());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php b/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php
index 0e440ac8..9fd27bae 100644
--- a/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php
+++ b/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public function testSchemaWithLocalAndExternalReferencesWithCircularReference()
         );
 
         // local ref with overriding
-        $this->assertNotEquals(
+        $this->assertEquals(
             $schemaStorage->resolveRef("$mainSchemaPath#/definitions/house/additionalProperties"),
             $schemaStorage->resolveRef("$mainSchemaPath#/properties/house/additionalProperties")
         );