diff --git a/webdriver/client.py b/webdriver/client.py
index b951443a1acc3a..2295ee05199545 100644
--- a/webdriver/client.py
+++ b/webdriver/client.py
@@ -311,13 +311,13 @@ def start(self):
         #body["capabilities"] = caps
         body = caps
 
-        resp = self.transport.send("POST", "session", body=body)
-        self.session_id = resp["sessionId"]
+        response = self.transport.send("POST", "session", body=body)
+        self.session_id = response.body["value"]["sessionId"]
 
         if self.extension_cls:
             self.extension = self.extension_cls(self)
 
-        return resp["value"]
+        return response.body["value"]
 
     def end(self):
         if self.session_id is None:
@@ -332,11 +332,48 @@ def end(self):
         self.find = None
         self.extension = None
 
+    def send_raw_command(self, method, url, body=None, headers=None):
+        """Send a command to the remote end.
+
+        :param method: HTTP method to use in request
+        :param url: "command part" of the requests URL path
+        :param body: body of the HTTP request
+        :param headers: Additional headers to include in the HTTP request
+
+        :return: an instance of wdclient.Response describing the HTTP response
+            received from the remote end
+        """
+        url = urlparse.urljoin("session/%s/" % self.session_id, url)
+        return self.transport.send(method, url, body, headers)
+
     def send_command(self, method, url, body=None, key=None):
+        """Send a command to the remote end and validate its success.
+
+        :param method: HTTP method to use in request
+        :param url: "command part" of the requests URL path
+        :param body: body of the HTTP request
+        :param key: (deprecated) when specified, this string value will be used
+            to de-reference the HTTP response body following JSON parsing
+
+        :return: None if the HTTP response body was empty, otherwise the
+            result of parsing the HTTP response body as JSON
+        """
+
         if self.session_id is None:
             raise error.SessionNotCreatedException()
-        url = urlparse.urljoin("session/%s/" % self.session_id, url)
-        return self.transport.send(method, url, body, key=key)
+
+        response = self.send_raw_command(method, url, body)
+
+        if response.status != 200:
+            cls = error.get(response.body["value"].get("error"))
+            raise cls(response.body["value"].get("message"))
+
+        if key is not None:
+            response.body = response.body[key]
+        if not response.body:
+            response.body = None
+
+        return response.body
 
     @property
     @command
diff --git a/webdriver/transport.py b/webdriver/transport.py
index f3c1ed536f07b7..db63467bf6558b 100644
--- a/webdriver/transport.py
+++ b/webdriver/transport.py
@@ -6,11 +6,46 @@
 import json
 import urlparse
 
-import error
-
-
 HTTP_TIMEOUT = 5
 
+class Response(object):
+    """Describes an HTTP response received from a remote en"Describes an HTTP
+    response received from a remote end whose body has been read and parsed as
+    appropriate."""
+    def __init__(self, status, body):
+        self.status = status
+        self.body = body
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return "wdclient.Response(status=%d, body=%s)" % (self.status, self.body)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def from_http_response(http_response):
+        status = http_response.status
+        body = http_response.read()
+
+        # SpecID: dfn-send-a-response
+        #
+        # > 3. Set the response's header with name and value with the following
+        # >    values:
+        # >
+        # >    "Content-Type"
+        # >       "application/json; charset=utf-8"
+        # >    "cache-control"
+        # >       "no-cache"
+        assert http_response.getheader("Content-Type") == "application/json; charset=utf-8"
+        assert http_response.getheader("Cache-Control") == "no-cache"
+
+        if body:
+            body = json.loads(body)
+
+            # SpecID: dfn-send-a-response
+            #
+            # > 4. If data is not null, let response's body be a JSON Object
+            #      with a key `value` set to the JSON Serialization of data.
+            assert "value" in body
+
+        return Response(status, body)
 
 class HTTPWireProtocol(object):
     """Transports messages (commands and responses) over the WebDriver
@@ -33,15 +68,16 @@ def __init__(self, host, port, url_prefix="/", timeout=HTTP_TIMEOUT):
     def url(self, suffix):
         return urlparse.urljoin(self.path_prefix, suffix)
 
-    def send(self, method, url, body=None, headers=None, key=None):
+    def send(self, method, url, body=None, headers=None):
         """Send a command to the remote.
 
         :param method: "POST" or "GET".
+        :param url: "command part" of the requests URL path
         :param body: Body of the request.  Defaults to an empty dictionary
             if ``method`` is "POST".
         :param headers: Additional headers to include in the request.
-        :param key: Extract this key from the dictionary returned from
-            the remote.
+        :return: an instance of wdclient.Response describing the HTTP response
+            received from the remote end.
         """
 
         if body is None and method == "POST":
@@ -62,22 +98,9 @@ def send(self, method, url, body=None, headers=None, key=None):
             self.host, self.port, strict=True, timeout=self._timeout)
         conn.request(method, url, body, headers)
 
-        resp = conn.getresponse()
-        resp_body = resp.read()
-        conn.close()
-
         try:
-            data = json.loads(resp_body)
-        except:
-            raise IOError("Could not parse response body as JSON: '%s'" % resp_body)
-
-        if resp.status != 200:
-            cls = error.get(data.get("error"))
-            raise cls(data.get("message"))
-
-        if key is not None:
-            data = data[key]
-        if not data:
-            data = None
+            response = Response.from_http_response(conn.getresponse())
+        finally:
+            conn.close()
 
-        return data
+        return response