diff --git a/doc/api/http.markdown b/doc/api/http.markdown
index e730b1c860..70be739b2e 100644
--- a/doc/api/http.markdown
+++ b/doc/api/http.markdown
@@ -344,6 +344,13 @@ or
 
     response.setHeader("Set-Cookie", ["type=ninja", "language=javascript"]);
 
+### response.sendDate
+
+When true, the Date header will be automatically generated and sent in 
+the response if it is not already present in the headers. Defaults to true.
+
+This should only be disabled for testing; HTTP requires the Date header
+in responses.
 
 ### response.getHeader(name)
 
diff --git a/lib/http.js b/lib/http.js
index 02f631e107..a0745f0b99 100644
--- a/lib/http.js
+++ b/lib/http.js
@@ -226,9 +226,22 @@ var transferEncodingExpression = /Transfer-Encoding/i;
 var closeExpression = /close/i;
 var chunkExpression = /chunk/i;
 var contentLengthExpression = /Content-Length/i;
+var dateExpression = /Date/i;
 var expectExpression = /Expect/i;
 var continueExpression = /100-continue/i;
 
+var dateCache;
+function utcDate() {
+  if (! dateCache) {
+    var d = new Date();
+    dateCache = d.toUTCString();
+    setTimeout(function () {
+      dateCache = undefined;
+    }, 1000 - d.getMilliseconds());
+  }
+  return dateCache;
+}
+
 
 /* Abstract base class for ServerRequest and ClientResponse. */
 function IncomingMessage(socket) {
@@ -383,6 +396,7 @@ function OutgoingMessage() {
   this.chunkedEncoding = false;
   this.shouldKeepAlive = true;
   this.useChunkedEncodingByDefault = true;
+  this.sendDate = false;
 
   this._hasBody = true;
   this._trailer = '';
@@ -473,6 +487,7 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype._storeHeader = function(firstLine, headers) {
   var sentConnectionHeader = false;
   var sentContentLengthHeader = false;
   var sentTransferEncodingHeader = false;
+  var sentDateHeader = false;
   var sentExpect = false;
 
   // firstLine in the case of request is: 'GET /index.html HTTP/1.1\r\n'
@@ -498,7 +513,8 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype._storeHeader = function(firstLine, headers) {
 
     } else if (contentLengthExpression.test(field)) {
       sentContentLengthHeader = true;
-
+    } else if (dateExpression.test(field)) {
+      sentDateHeader = true;
     } else if (expectExpression.test(field)) {
       sentExpect = true;
     }
@@ -529,6 +545,11 @@ OutgoingMessage.prototype._storeHeader = function(firstLine, headers) {
     }
   }
 
+  // Date header
+  if (this.sendDate == true && sentDateHeader == false) {
+    messageHeader += "Date: " + utcDate() + CRLF;
+  }
+
   // keep-alive logic
   if (sentConnectionHeader === false) {
     if (this.shouldKeepAlive &&
@@ -816,6 +837,8 @@ function ServerResponse(req) {
 
   if (req.method === 'HEAD') this._hasBody = false;
 
+  this.sendDate = true;
+
   if (req.httpVersionMajor < 1 || req.httpVersionMinor < 1) {
     this.useChunkedEncodingByDefault = false;
     this.shouldKeepAlive = false;
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http-1.0.js b/test/simple/test-http-1.0.js
index fadaaf0f1e..f5f3aef0a6 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-http-1.0.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-http-1.0.js
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ function test(handler, request_generator, response_validator) {
     assert.equal('1.0', req.httpVersion);
     assert.equal(1, req.httpVersionMajor);
     assert.equal(0, req.httpVersionMinor);
+    res.sendDate = false;
     res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
     res.write('Hello, '); res._send('');
     res.write('world!'); res._send('');
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ function test(handler, request_generator, response_validator) {
     assert.equal('1.1', req.httpVersion);
     assert.equal(1, req.httpVersionMajor);
     assert.equal(1, req.httpVersionMinor);
+    res.sendDate = false;
     res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
     res.write('Hello, '); res._send('');
     res.write('world!'); res._send('');
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http-date-header.js b/test/simple/test-http-date-header.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e416b37583
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/simple/test-http-date-header.js
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+var common = require("../common");
+var assert = require('assert');
+var http = require("http");
+
+var testResBody = "other stuff!\n";
+
+var server = http.createServer(function(req, res) {
+  assert.ok(! ("date" in req.headers),
+    "Request headers contained a Date."
+  );
+  res.writeHead(200, {
+    'Content-Type' : 'text/plain',
+  });
+  res.end(testResBody);
+});
+server.listen(common.PORT);
+
+
+server.addListener("listening", function() {
+  var options = {
+    port: common.PORT,
+    path: "/",
+    method: "GET"
+  }
+  var req = http.request(options, function (res) {
+    assert.ok("date" in res.headers,
+      "Response headers didn't contain a Date."
+    );
+    res.addListener('end', function () {
+      server.close();
+      process.exit();
+    });
+  });
+  req.end();
+});
diff --git a/test/simple/test-http-max-headers-count.js b/test/simple/test-http-max-headers-count.js
index 8d5b97d7c3..f34e7b5b79 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-http-max-headers-count.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-http-max-headers-count.js
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ server.listen(common.PORT, function() {
   var maxAndExpected = [ // for client
     [20, 20],
     [1200, 1200],
-    [0, N + 2], // Connection and Transfer-Encoding
+    [0, N + 3], // Connection, Date and Transfer-Encoding
   ];
   doRequest();