diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 44a6c39..7d569d4 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@
     <copy todir="${gwtjar.dir}">
       <fileset dir="src/java" includes="com/samskivert/Depot.gwt.xml"/>
       <fileset dir="src/java" includes="com/samskivert/depot/ByteEnum.java"/>
+      <fileset dir="src/java" includes="com/samskivert/depot/util/ByteEnumUtil.java"/>
     </copy>
     <jar basedir="${gwtjar.dir}" destfile="${deploy.dir}/${lib.name}-gwt.jar"/>
     <delete dir="${gwtjar.dir}"/>
diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/impl/FieldMarshaller.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/impl/FieldMarshaller.java
index 3c0e390..d1bc779 100644
--- a/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/impl/FieldMarshaller.java
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/impl/FieldMarshaller.java
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ package com.samskivert.depot.impl;
 import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
-import java.util.EnumSet;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
 import java.sql.Blob;
@@ -35,12 +34,13 @@ import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.Time;
 import java.sql.Timestamp;
 
-import com.samskivert.jdbc.ColumnDefinition;
 import com.samskivert.depot.ByteEnum;
 import com.samskivert.depot.DatabaseException;
 import com.samskivert.depot.annotation.Column;
 import com.samskivert.depot.annotation.Computed;
 import com.samskivert.depot.annotation.GeneratedValue;
+import com.samskivert.depot.util.ByteEnumUtil;
+import com.samskivert.jdbc.ColumnDefinition;
 
 import com.samskivert.util.StringUtil;
 
@@ -437,7 +437,8 @@ public abstract class FieldMarshaller<T>
         }
     }
 
-    protected static class ByteEnumMarshaller<E extends Enum<E>> extends FieldMarshaller<ByteEnum> {
+    protected static class ByteEnumMarshaller<E extends Enum<E> & ByteEnum>
+        extends FieldMarshaller<ByteEnum> {
         public ByteEnumMarshaller (Class<E> clazz) {
             _eclass = clazz;
         }
@@ -447,14 +448,7 @@ public abstract class FieldMarshaller<T>
             return (ByteEnum) _field.get(po);
         }
         @Override public ByteEnum getFromSet (ResultSet rs) throws SQLException {
-            byte code = rs.getByte(getColumnName());
-            for (E value : EnumSet.allOf(_eclass)) {
-                ByteEnum bvalue = (ByteEnum)value;
-                if (bvalue.toByte() == code) {
-                    return bvalue;
-                }
-            }
-            return null;
+            return ByteEnumUtil.fromByte(_eclass, rs.getByte(getColumnName()));
         }
         @Override public void writeToObject (Object po, ByteEnum value)
             throws IllegalArgumentException, IllegalAccessException {
diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/util/ByteEnumUtil.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/util/ByteEnumUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a6bd5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/depot/util/ByteEnumUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+//
+// $Id$
+//
+// Depot library - a Java relational persistence library
+// Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Michael Bayne and Pär Winzell
+//
+// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+// under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published
+// by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+// Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+// License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+// Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
+
+package com.samskivert.depot.util;
+
+import java.util.EnumSet;
+
+import com.samskivert.depot.ByteEnum;
+
+/**
+ * {@link ByteEnum} utility methods.
+ */
+public class ByteEnumUtil
+{
+    /**
+     * Returns the enum value with the specified code in the supplied enum class.
+     *
+     * @exception IllegalArgumentException thrown if the enum lacks a value that maps to the
+     * supplied code.
+     */
+    public static <E extends Enum<E> & ByteEnum> E fromByte (Class<E> eclass, byte code)
+    {
+        for (E value : EnumSet.allOf(eclass)) {
+            ByteEnum bvalue = (ByteEnum)value;
+            if (bvalue.toByte() == code) {
+                return value;
+            }
+        }
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException(eclass + " has no value with code " + code);
+    }
+}