diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypes.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypes.ts
index 7edb9a9045c5f..21fb78b59f8e3 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypes.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/node/extHostTypes.ts
@@ -1103,6 +1103,10 @@ export class SelectionRange {
 	constructor(range: Range, parent?: SelectionRange) {
 		this.range = range;
 		this.parent = parent;
+
+		if (parent && !parent.range.contains(this.range)) {
+			throw new Error('Invalid argument: parent must contain this range');
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/test/electron-browser/api/extHostLanguageFeatures.test.ts b/src/vs/workbench/test/electron-browser/api/extHostLanguageFeatures.test.ts
index c25d55334b8b7..50722a509fc41 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/test/electron-browser/api/extHostLanguageFeatures.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/test/electron-browser/api/extHostLanguageFeatures.test.ts
@@ -1119,19 +1119,15 @@ suite('ExtHostLanguageFeatures', function () {
 	});
 
 	test('Selection Ranges, bad data', async () => {
-		disposables.push(extHost.registerSelectionRangeProvider(defaultExtension, defaultSelector, new class implements vscode.SelectionRangeProvider {
-			provideSelectionRanges() {
-				return [
-					new types.SelectionRange(new types.Range(0, 10, 0, 18),
-						new types.SelectionRange(new types.Range(0, 11, 0, 18))),
-				];
-			}
-		}));
 
-		await rpcProtocol.sync();
+		try {
+			let _a = new types.SelectionRange(new types.Range(0, 10, 0, 18),
+				new types.SelectionRange(new types.Range(0, 11, 0, 18))
+			);
+			assert.ok(false, String(_a));
+		} catch (err) {
+			assert.ok(true);
+		}
 
-		provideSelectionRanges(model, [new Position(1, 17)], CancellationToken.None).then(ranges => {
-			assert.equal(ranges.length, 0);
-		});
 	});
 });