Index: modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module,v
retrieving revision 1.603
diff -u -p -r1.603 taxonomy.module
--- modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module	22 Aug 2010 15:45:03 -0000	1.603
+++ modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module	22 Aug 2010 23:25:47 -0000
@@ -606,23 +606,27 @@ function taxonomy_term_view($term, $view
   field_attach_prepare_view('taxonomy_term', array($term->tid => $term), $view_mode);
   entity_prepare_view('taxonomy_term', array($term->tid => $term));
 
-  $build = array(
-    '#theme' => 'taxonomy_term',
-    '#term' => $term,
-    '#view_mode' => $view_mode,
-  );
-
+  $build = array();
+  
+  if (!empty($term->description)) {
+    $build['description'] = array(
+      '#markup' => check_markup($term->description, $term->format, '', TRUE),
+      '#weight' => 0,
+      '#prefix' => '<div class="taxonomy-term-description">',
+      '#suffix' => '</div>',
+    );
+  }
   $build += field_attach_view('taxonomy_term', $term, $view_mode);
-
-  $build['description'] = array(
-    '#markup' => check_markup($term->description, $term->format, '', TRUE),
-    '#weight' => 0,
-    '#prefix' => '<div class="taxonomy-term-description">',
-    '#suffix' => '</div>',
-  );
-
-  $build['#attached']['css'][] = drupal_get_path('module', 'taxonomy') . '/taxonomy.css';
-
+  
+  if (! empty($build)) {
+    // Only return markup if there is content to be rendered.
+    $build = array(
+      '#theme' => 'taxonomy_term',
+      '#term' => $term,
+      '#view_mode' => $view_mode,
+    );
+    $build['#attached']['css'][] = drupal_get_path('module', 'taxonomy') . '/taxonomy.css';
+  }
   return $build;
 }
 
Index: modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal/drupal/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc,v
retrieving revision 1.53
diff -u -p -r1.53 taxonomy.pages.inc
--- modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc	22 Aug 2010 13:53:37 -0000	1.53
+++ modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc	22 Aug 2010 23:25:47 -0000
@@ -30,12 +30,13 @@ function taxonomy_term_page($term) {
   drupal_add_feed('taxonomy/term/' . $term->tid . '/feed', 'RSS - ' . $term->name);
 
   $build = array();
-  // Add term heading if the term has a description
-  if (!empty($term->description)) {
+  // Add term heading only if there is some content to show.
+  $term_view = taxonomy_term_view($term, 'full');
+  if (!empty($term_view)) {
     $build['term_heading'] = array(
       '#prefix' => '<div class="term-listing-heading">',
       '#suffix' => '</div>',
-      'term' => taxonomy_term_view($term, 'full'),
+      'term' => $term_view,
     );
   }