diff --git a/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php b/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php
index 6450572e..55d7985a 100644
--- a/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php
+++ b/src/JsonSchema/SchemaStorage.php
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 
 class SchemaStorage implements SchemaStorageInterface
 {
+    const INTERNAL_PROVIDED_SCHEMA_URI = 'internal://provided-schema';
+
     protected $uriRetriever;
     protected $uriResolver;
     protected $schemas = array();
@@ -43,7 +45,10 @@ public function getUriResolver()
      */
     public function addSchema($id, $schema = null)
     {
-        if (is_null($schema)) {
+        if (is_null($schema) && $id !== self::INTERNAL_PROVIDED_SCHEMA_URI) {
+            // if the schema was user-provided to Validator and is still null, then assume this is
+            // what the user intended, as there's no way for us to retrieve anything else. User-supplied
+            // schemas do not have an associated URI when passed via Validator::validate().
             $schema = $this->uriRetriever->retrieve($id);
         }
         $objectIterator = new ObjectIterator($schema);
diff --git a/src/JsonSchema/Validator.php b/src/JsonSchema/Validator.php
index e2a919bc..9f44e512 100644
--- a/src/JsonSchema/Validator.php
+++ b/src/JsonSchema/Validator.php
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 use JsonSchema\Constraints\BaseConstraint;
 use JsonSchema\Constraints\Constraint;
 use JsonSchema\Exception\InvalidConfigException;
+use JsonSchema\SchemaStorage;
 
 /**
  * A JsonSchema Constraint
@@ -41,6 +42,9 @@ public function validate(&$value, $schema = null, $checkMode = null)
             $this->factory->setConfig($checkMode);
         }
 
+        // add provided schema to SchemaStorage with internal URI to allow internal $ref resolution
+        $this->factory->getSchemaStorage()->addSchema(SchemaStorage::INTERNAL_PROVIDED_SCHEMA_URI, $schema);
+
         $validator = $this->factory->createInstanceFor('schema');
         $validator->check($value, $schema);
 
diff --git a/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php b/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php
index c3388bf4..92e1d5c3 100644
--- a/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php
+++ b/tests/SchemaStorageTest.php
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 use JsonSchema\SchemaStorage;
 use JsonSchema\Uri\UriRetriever;
+use JsonSchema\Validator;
 use Prophecy\Argument;
 
 class SchemaStorageTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
@@ -31,6 +32,15 @@ public function testResolveRef()
         );
     }
 
+    public function testResolveTopRef()
+    {
+        $input = json_decode('{"propertyOne":"notANumber"}');
+        $schema = json_decode('{"$ref":"#/definition","definition":{"properties":{"propertyOne":{"type":"number"}}}}');
+        $v = new Validator();
+        $v->validate($input, $schema);
+        $this->assertFalse($v->isValid());
+    }
+
     /**
      * @depends testResolveRef
      */