encpanic.diff

diff --git a/rlp/encode.go b/rlp/encode.go
index c3523369f..404202418 100644
--- a/rlp/encode.go
+++ b/rlp/encode.go
@@ -399,7 +399,8 @@ func makeEncoderWriter(typ reflect.Type) writer {
 			// package json simply doesn't call MarshalJSON for this case, but encodes the
 			// value as if it didn't implement the interface. We don't want to handle it that
 			// way.
-			return fmt.Errorf("rlp: unadressable value of type %v, EncodeRLP is pointer method", val.Type())
+			panic(fmt.Errorf("rlp: unadressable value of type %v, EncodeRLP is pointer method", val.Type()))
+			return nil
 		}
 		return val.Addr().Interface().(Encoder).EncodeRLP(w)
 	}