diff --git a/src/libcore/error.rs b/src/libcore/error.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f0eb9b8424a22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libcore/error.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+// Copyright 2014 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+// file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+// http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+// <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+// option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+
+//! A trait for converting between different types of errors.
+//!
+//! # The `FromError` trait
+//!
+//! `FromError` is a simple trait that expresses conversions between different
+//! error types. To provide maximum flexibility, it does not require either of
+//! the types to actually implement the `Error` trait from the `std` crate,
+//! although this will be the common case.
+//!
+//! The main use of this trait is in the `try!` macro from the `std` crate,
+//! which uses it to automatically convert a given error to the error specified
+//! in a function's return type.
+
+/// A trait for types that can be converted from a given error type `E`.
+pub trait FromError<E> {
+    /// Perform the conversion.
+    fn from_error(err: E) -> Self;
+}
+
+// Any type is convertable from itself
+impl<E> FromError<E> for E {
+    fn from_error(err: E) -> E {
+        err
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/libcore/lib.rs b/src/libcore/lib.rs
index 5e3c74477d15c..a8ad0c29c05f6 100644
--- a/src/libcore/lib.rs
+++ b/src/libcore/lib.rs
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
 
 #![no_std]
 #![allow(unknown_features)]
-#![feature(globs, intrinsics, lang_items, macro_rules, phase)]
+#![feature(default_type_params, globs, intrinsics, lang_items, macro_rules, phase)]
 #![feature(simd, unsafe_destructor, slicing_syntax)]
 #![deny(missing_docs)]
 
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ pub mod ops;
 pub mod cmp;
 pub mod clone;
 pub mod default;
+pub mod error;
 
 /* Core types and methods on primitives */
 
diff --git a/src/libcore/result.rs b/src/libcore/result.rs
index 0dc4fb839659d..a8d593dcda88a 100644
--- a/src/libcore/result.rs
+++ b/src/libcore/result.rs
@@ -278,6 +278,7 @@
 
 pub use self::Result::*;
 
+use error::FromError;
 use std::fmt::Show;
 use slice;
 use slice::AsSlice;
@@ -633,10 +634,10 @@ impl<T, E> Result<T, E> {
     /// ```
     #[inline]
     #[stable]
-    pub fn and<U>(self, res: Result<U, E>) -> Result<U, E> {
+    pub fn and<U, F: FromError<E> = E>(self, res: Result<U, F>) -> Result<U, F> {
         match self {
             Ok(_) => res,
-            Err(e) => Err(e),
+            Err(e) => Err(FromError::from_error(e)),
         }
     }
 
@@ -657,10 +658,10 @@ impl<T, E> Result<T, E> {
     /// ```
     #[inline]
     #[unstable = "waiting for unboxed closures"]
-    pub fn and_then<U>(self, op: |T| -> Result<U, E>) -> Result<U, E> {
+    pub fn and_then<U, F: FromError<E> = E>(self, op: |T| -> Result<U, F>) -> Result<U, F> {
         match self {
             Ok(t) => op(t),
-            Err(e) => Err(e),
+            Err(e) => Err(FromError::from_error(e)),
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/libcoretest/result.rs b/src/libcoretest/result.rs
index 92124e2f299cd..024e360d68b8b 100644
--- a/src/libcoretest/result.rs
+++ b/src/libcoretest/result.rs
@@ -8,24 +8,36 @@
 // option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
 // except according to those terms.
 
+use core::error::FromError;
 use core::iter::range;
 
+#[deriving(PartialEq, Show)]
+struct Error(&'static str);
+impl FromError<&'static str> for Error {
+    fn from_error(msg: &'static str) -> Error {
+        Error(msg)
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn op1() -> Result<int, &'static str> { Ok(666) }
 pub fn op2() -> Result<int, &'static str> { Err("sadface") }
+pub fn op3(n: int) -> Result<int, Error> { Ok(n * 2) }
+pub fn op4(_: int) -> Result<int, Error> { Err(Error("oh well :(")) }
 
 #[test]
 pub fn test_and() {
-    assert_eq!(op1().and(Ok(667i)).unwrap(), 667);
+    assert_eq!(op1().and(Ok::<int, &'static str>(667i)).unwrap(), 667);
     assert_eq!(op1().and(Err::<(), &'static str>("bad")).unwrap_err(),
                "bad");
 
-    assert_eq!(op2().and(Ok(667i)).unwrap_err(), "sadface");
-    assert_eq!(op2().and(Err::<(),&'static str>("bad")).unwrap_err(),
+    assert_eq!(op2().and(Ok::<int, &'static str>(667i)).unwrap_err(), "sadface");
+    assert_eq!(op2().and(Err::<(), &'static str>("bad")).unwrap_err(),
                "sadface");
 }
 
 #[test]
 pub fn test_and_then() {
+
     assert_eq!(op1().and_then(|i| Ok::<int, &'static str>(i + 1)).unwrap(), 667);
     assert_eq!(op1().and_then(|_| Err::<int, &'static str>("bad")).unwrap_err(),
                "bad");
@@ -34,6 +46,11 @@ pub fn test_and_then() {
                "sadface");
     assert_eq!(op2().and_then(|_| Err::<int, &'static str>("bad")).unwrap_err(),
                "sadface");
+
+    assert_eq!(op1().and_then(op3).unwrap(), 666 * 2);
+    assert_eq!(op2().and_then(op3).unwrap_err(), Error("sadface"));
+    assert_eq!(op1().and_then(op4).unwrap_err(), Error("oh well :("));
+    assert_eq!(op2().and_then(op4).unwrap_err(), Error("sadface"));
 }
 
 #[test]
diff --git a/src/libstd/error.rs b/src/libstd/error.rs
index 82ad893f88a1a..5a56e6a09f2dc 100644
--- a/src/libstd/error.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/error.rs
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@
 //! }
 //! ```
 
+pub use core::error::FromError;
 use option::{Option, None};
 use kinds::Send;
 use string::String;
@@ -93,16 +94,3 @@ pub trait Error: Send {
     /// The lower-level cause of this error, if any.
     fn cause(&self) -> Option<&Error> { None }
 }
-
-/// A trait for types that can be converted from a given error type `E`.
-pub trait FromError<E> {
-    /// Perform the conversion.
-    fn from_error(err: E) -> Self;
-}
-
-// Any type is convertable from itself
-impl<E> FromError<E> for E {
-    fn from_error(err: E) -> E {
-        err
-    }
-}