diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/CookieDecoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/CookieDecoder.java
index e1e5e01bbd..0a090313bd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/CookieDecoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/CookieDecoder.java
@@ -50,11 +50,22 @@ public class CookieDecoder {
 
     private final static String COMMA = ",";
 
+    private boolean lenient;
+
     /**
-     * Creates a new decoder.
+     * Creates a new decoder with strict parsing.
      */
     public CookieDecoder() {
-        super();
+        this(false);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new decoder.
+     *
+     * @param lenient ignores cookies with the name 'HTTPOnly' instead of throwing an exception
+     */
+    public CookieDecoder(boolean lenient) {
+        this.lenient = lenient;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -95,8 +106,8 @@ public class CookieDecoder {
         Set<Cookie> cookies = new TreeSet<Cookie>();
         for (; i < names.size(); i ++) {
             String name = names.get(i);
-            // Not all user agents understand the HttpOnly attribute -- be lenient
-            if (CookieHeaderNames.HTTPONLY.equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
+            // Not all user agents understand the HttpOnly attribute
+            if (lenient && CookieHeaderNames.HTTPONLY.equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
                 continue;
             }