diff --git a/src/JsonSchema/Uri/UriResolver.php b/src/JsonSchema/Uri/UriResolver.php
index 00a47e81..267d8fd9 100644
--- a/src/JsonSchema/Uri/UriResolver.php
+++ b/src/JsonSchema/Uri/UriResolver.php
@@ -144,14 +144,12 @@ public static function combineRelativePathWithBasePath($relativePath, $basePath)
         while ($combinedSegments) {
             $segment = array_shift($combinedSegments);
             if ($segment === '..') {
-                if (count($collapsedSegments) <= 1) {
-                    // Do not remove the top level (domain)
-                    // This is not ideal - the domain should not be part of the path here. parse() and generate()
-                    // should handle the "domain" separately, like the schema.
-                    // Then the if-condition here would be `if (!$collapsedSegments) {`.
-                    throw new UriResolverException(sprintf("Unable to resolve URI '%s' from base '%s'", $relativePath, $basePath));
+                // RFC 3986 section 5.2.4: a parent segment climbing past the root is
+                // discarded rather than being an error. The leading empty segment of an
+                // absolute path is the root itself, so it is never popped.
+                if ([] !== $collapsedSegments && [''] !== $collapsedSegments) {
+                    array_pop($collapsedSegments);
                 }
-                array_pop($collapsedSegments);
             } else {
                 $collapsedSegments[] = $segment;
             }
diff --git a/tests/Uri/UriResolverTest.php b/tests/Uri/UriResolverTest.php
index 91dee39f..f17a4748 100644
--- a/tests/Uri/UriResolverTest.php
+++ b/tests/Uri/UriResolverTest.php
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 namespace JsonSchema\Tests\Uri;
 
 use JsonSchema\Uri\UriResolver;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\DataProvider;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 
 class UriResolverTest extends TestCase
@@ -105,6 +106,37 @@ public function testCombineRelativePathWithBasePathTraversingUp(): void
         );
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider excessParentSegmentCases
+     */
+    #[DataProvider('excessParentSegmentCases')]
+    public function testCombineRelativePathWithBasePathDiscardsExcessParentSegments(string $expected, string $relativePath, string $basePath): void
+    {
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, UriResolver::combineRelativePathWithBasePath($relativePath, $basePath));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return array<string, array{string, string, string}>
+     */
+    public static function excessParentSegmentCases(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            // RFC 3986 section 5.2.4: a parent segment climbing past the root is discarded
+            'more parents than segments' => ['/bar.json', '../../../bar.json', '/a/'],
+            'parent against the root itself' => ['/bar.json', '../bar.json', '/'],
+            // the root is never popped, but a real leading segment still is
+            'parent against a relative base' => ['bar.json', '../bar.json', 'foo/baz.json'],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    public function testResolveDiscardsExcessParentSegments(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            'http://example.org/bar.json',
+            $this->resolver->resolve('../../../bar.json', 'http://example.org/a/')
+        );
+    }
+
     public function testResolveAbsoluteUri(): void
     {
         $this->assertEquals(
diff --git a/tests/Uri/UriRetrieverTest.php b/tests/Uri/UriRetrieverTest.php
index cf37d77d..3eef5710 100644
--- a/tests/Uri/UriRetrieverTest.php
+++ b/tests/Uri/UriRetrieverTest.php
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 use JsonSchema\Exception\InvalidSchemaMediaTypeException;
 use JsonSchema\Exception\JsonDecodingException;
 use JsonSchema\Exception\ResourceNotFoundException;
-use JsonSchema\Exception\UriResolverException;
 use JsonSchema\Uri\UriRetriever;
 use JsonSchema\Validator;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
@@ -220,9 +219,11 @@ public function testResolveExcessLevelUp(): void
     {
         $retriever = new UriRetriever();
 
-        $this->expectException(UriResolverException::class);
-        $retriever->resolve(
-            '../schema.json#', 'http://example.org/schema.json#'
+        // RFC 3986 section 5.2.4: the parent segment climbs past the root, so it is
+        // discarded instead of making the reference unresolvable
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            'http://example.org/schema.json',
+            $retriever->resolve('../schema.json#', 'http://example.org/schema.json#')
         );
     }