diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index a6390f56..c3cb4189 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -2557,12 +2557,17 @@ evhttp_set_timeout(struct evhttp* http, int timeout_in_secs)
 	http->timeout = timeout_in_secs;
 }
 
-void
+int
 evhttp_set_cb(struct evhttp *http, const char *uri,
     void (*cb)(struct evhttp_request *, void *), void *cbarg)
 {
 	struct evhttp_cb *http_cb;
 
+	TAILQ_FOREACH(http_cb, &http->callbacks, next) {
+		if (strcmp(http_cb->what, uri) == 0)
+			return (-1);
+	}
+
 	if ((http_cb = mm_calloc(1, sizeof(struct evhttp_cb))) == NULL)
 		event_err(1, "%s: calloc", __func__);
 
@@ -2571,6 +2576,8 @@ evhttp_set_cb(struct evhttp *http, const char *uri,
 	http_cb->cbarg = cbarg;
 
 	TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&http->callbacks, http_cb, next);
+
+	return (0);
 }
 
 int
diff --git a/include/event2/http.h b/include/event2/http.h
index dc7d7009..12ecddbf 100644
--- a/include/event2/http.h
+++ b/include/event2/http.h
@@ -119,9 +119,17 @@ int evhttp_accept_socket(struct evhttp *http, evutil_socket_t fd);
  */
 void evhttp_free(struct evhttp* http);
 
-/** Set a callback for a specified URI */
-void evhttp_set_cb(struct evhttp *, const char *,
-    void (*)(struct evhttp_request *, void *), void *);
+/**
+   Set a callback for a specified URI 
+    
+   @param http the http sever on which to set the callback
+   @param path the path for which to invoke the callback
+   @param cb the callback function that gets invoked on requesting path
+   @param cb_arg an additional context argument for the callback
+   @return 0 on success, -1 if the callback existed already
+*/
+int evhttp_set_cb(struct evhttp *http, const char *path,
+    void (*cb)(struct evhttp_request *, void *), void *cb_arg);
 
 /** Removes the callback for a specified URI */
 int evhttp_del_cb(struct evhttp *, const char *);
diff --git a/test/regress_http.c b/test/regress_http.c
index 7cbba72a..21b465fa 100644
--- a/test/regress_http.c
+++ b/test/regress_http.c
@@ -2076,6 +2076,7 @@ static void
 http_primitives(void *ptr)
 {
 	char *escaped = NULL;
+	struct evhttp *http;
 
 	escaped = evhttp_htmlescape("<script>");
 	tt_str_op(escaped, ==, "&lt;script&gt;");
@@ -2084,6 +2085,14 @@ http_primitives(void *ptr)
 	escaped = evhttp_htmlescape("\"\'&");
 	tt_str_op(escaped, ==, "&quot;&#039;&amp;");
 
+	http = evhttp_new(NULL);
+	tt_int_op(evhttp_set_cb(http, "/test", http_basic_cb, NULL), ==, 0);
+	tt_int_op(evhttp_set_cb(http, "/test", http_basic_cb, NULL), ==, -1);
+	tt_int_op(evhttp_del_cb(http, "/test"), ==, 0);
+	tt_int_op(evhttp_del_cb(http, "/test"), ==, -1);
+	tt_int_op(evhttp_set_cb(http, "/test", http_basic_cb, NULL), ==, 0);
+	evhttp_free(http);
+
  end:
 	if (escaped)
 		free(escaped);