diff --git a/src/bitcoinrpc.h b/src/bitcoinrpc.h
index bf87ff4e3..cc791b0e9 100644
--- a/src/bitcoinrpc.h
+++ b/src/bitcoinrpc.h
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ enum RPCErrorCode
     RPC_INVALID_PARAMETER           = -8,  // Invalid, missing or duplicate parameter
     RPC_DATABASE_ERROR              = -20, // Database error
     RPC_DESERIALIZATION_ERROR       = -22, // Error parsing or validating structure in raw format
-    RPC_SERVER_NOT_STARTED          = -18, // RPC server was not started (StartRPCThreads() not called)
 
     // P2P client errors
     RPC_CLIENT_NOT_CONNECTED        = -9,  // Bitcoin is not connected
diff --git a/src/rpcwallet.cpp b/src/rpcwallet.cpp
index 054753370..e1ce45014 100644
--- a/src/rpcwallet.cpp
+++ b/src/rpcwallet.cpp
@@ -1363,8 +1363,6 @@ Value walletpassphrase(const Array& params, bool fHelp)
             "Stores the wallet decryption key in memory for <timeout> seconds.");
     if (fHelp)
         return true;
-    if (!fServer)
-        throw JSONRPCError(RPC_SERVER_NOT_STARTED, "Error: RPC server was not started, use server=1 to change this.");
     if (!pwalletMain->IsCrypted())
         throw JSONRPCError(RPC_WALLET_WRONG_ENC_STATE, "Error: running with an unencrypted wallet, but walletpassphrase was called.");