diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp
index 20593c14..8ba24e52 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_eval.hpp
@@ -295,9 +295,8 @@ namespace chaiscript
             try {
 
               if (lhs.is_undef()) {
-                if (!this->children.empty() && 
-                    !this->children[0]->children.empty() 
-                    && this->children[0]->children[0]->identifier == AST_Node_Type::Reference)
+                if (!this->children.empty()
+                    && this->children[0]->identifier == AST_Node_Type::Reference)
                 {
                   /// \todo This does not handle the case of an unassigned reference variable
                   ///       being assigned outside of its declaration
@@ -379,27 +378,19 @@ namespace chaiscript
           AST_Node(std::move(t_ast_node_text), AST_Node_Type::Var_Decl, std::move(t_loc), std::move(t_children)) { }
 
         Boxed_Value eval_internal(const chaiscript::detail::Dispatch_State &t_ss) const override {
-          if (this->children[0]->identifier == AST_Node_Type::Reference)
-          {
-            return this->children[0]->eval(t_ss);
-          } else {
-            const std::string &idname = this->children[0]->text;
+          const std::string &idname = this->children[0]->text;
 
-            try {
-              Boxed_Value bv;
-              t_ss.add_object(idname, bv);
-              return bv;
-            }
-            catch (const exception::reserved_word_error &) {
-              throw exception::eval_error("Reserved word used as variable '" + idname + "'");
-            } catch (const exception::name_conflict_error &e) {
-              throw exception::eval_error("Variable redefined '" + e.name() + "'");
-            }
+          try {
+            Boxed_Value bv;
+            t_ss.add_object(idname, bv);
+            return bv;
+          }
+          catch (const exception::reserved_word_error &) {
+            throw exception::eval_error("Reserved word used as variable '" + idname + "'");
+          } catch (const exception::name_conflict_error &e) {
+            throw exception::eval_error("Variable redefined '" + e.name() + "'");
           }
-
         }
-
-
     };
 
 
diff --git a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
index fec5458a..6422e3b5 100644
--- a/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/chaiscript/language/chaiscript_parser.hpp
@@ -1983,11 +1983,14 @@ namespace chaiscript
         } else if (Keyword("auto") || Keyword("var") ) {
           retval = true;
 
-          if (!(Reference() || Id())) {
+          if (Reference()) {
+            // we built a reference node - continue
+          } else if (Id()) {
+            build_match<eval::Var_Decl_AST_Node>(prev_stack_top);
+          } else {
             throw exception::eval_error("Incomplete variable declaration", File_Position(m_position.line, m_position.col), *m_filename);
           }
 
-          build_match<eval::Var_Decl_AST_Node>(prev_stack_top);
         } else if (Keyword("GLOBAL") || Keyword("global")) {
           retval = true;