diff --git a/src/cmd_context/eval_cmd.cpp b/src/cmd_context/eval_cmd.cpp
index 86078a13c..3b00179c6 100644
--- a/src/cmd_context/eval_cmd.cpp
+++ b/src/cmd_context/eval_cmd.cpp
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ public:
     virtual void execute(cmd_context & ctx) {
         if (!ctx.is_model_available())
             throw cmd_exception("model is not available");
+        if (!m_target)
+            throw cmd_exception("no arguments passed to eval");
         model_ref md;
         unsigned index = m_params.get_uint("model_index", 0);
         check_sat_result * last_result = ctx.get_check_sat_result();