diff --git a/src/Angular.js b/src/Angular.js
index f5ab043dc8a3..dad114d6f2f8 100644
--- a/src/Angular.js
+++ b/src/Angular.js
@@ -1369,7 +1369,7 @@ function convertTimezoneToLocal(date, timezone, reverse) {
  */
 function startingTag(element) {
   element = jqLite(element).clone().empty();
-  var elemHtml = jqLite('<div>').append(element).html();
+  var elemHtml = jqLite('<div></div>').append(element).html();
   try {
     return element[0].nodeType === NODE_TYPE_TEXT ? lowercase(elemHtml) :
         elemHtml.
diff --git a/src/ng/compile.js b/src/ng/compile.js
index 36b64fe4e41b..63c1d10c142e 100644
--- a/src/ng/compile.js
+++ b/src/ng/compile.js
@@ -1941,7 +1941,7 @@ function $CompileProvider($provide, $$sanitizeUriProvider) {
           // for call to the link function.
           // Note: This will already clone the nodes...
           $linkNode = jqLite(
-            wrapTemplate(namespace, jqLite('<div>').append($compileNodes).html())
+            wrapTemplate(namespace, jqLite('<div></div>').append($compileNodes).html())
           );
         } else if (cloneConnectFn) {
           // important!!: we must call our jqLite.clone() since the jQuery one is trying to be smart