diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index 206303839..f1b1a19cf 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Features:
 Bugfixes:
  * ABI JSON: Include all overloaded events.
  * Parser: Crash fix related to parseTypeName.
+ * Type Checker: Allow constant byte arrays.
 
 ### 0.4.16 (2017-08-24)
 
diff --git a/libsolidity/analysis/TypeChecker.cpp b/libsolidity/analysis/TypeChecker.cpp
index 030c8f6be..40add37ee 100644
--- a/libsolidity/analysis/TypeChecker.cpp
+++ b/libsolidity/analysis/TypeChecker.cpp
@@ -623,7 +623,7 @@ bool TypeChecker::visit(VariableDeclaration const& _variable)
 		{
 			bool allowed = false;
 			if (auto arrayType = dynamic_cast<ArrayType const*>(_variable.type().get()))
-				allowed = arrayType->isString();
+				allowed = arrayType->isByteArray();
 			if (!allowed)
 				m_errorReporter.typeError(_variable.location(), "Constants of non-value type not yet implemented.");
 		}
diff --git a/test/libsolidity/SolidityEndToEndTest.cpp b/test/libsolidity/SolidityEndToEndTest.cpp
index f885b0d31..bdac82783 100644
--- a/test/libsolidity/SolidityEndToEndTest.cpp
+++ b/test/libsolidity/SolidityEndToEndTest.cpp
@@ -10076,6 +10076,30 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(function_types_sig)
 	BOOST_CHECK(callContractFunction("h()") == encodeArgs(asString(FixedHash<4>(dev::keccak256("f()")).asBytes())));
 }
 
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(constant_string)
+{
+	char const* sourceCode = R"(
+		contract C {
+			bytes constant a = "\x03\x01\x02";
+			bytes constant b = hex"030102";
+			string constant c = "hello";
+			function f() returns (bytes) {
+				return a;
+			}
+			function g() returns (bytes) {
+				return b;
+			}
+			function h() returns (bytes) {
+				return bytes(c);
+			}
+		}
+	)";
+	compileAndRun(sourceCode, 0, "C");
+	BOOST_CHECK(callContractFunction("f()") == encodeDyn(string("\x03\x01\x02")));
+	BOOST_CHECK(callContractFunction("g()") == encodeDyn(string("\x03\x01\x02")));
+	BOOST_CHECK(callContractFunction("h()") == encodeDyn(string("hello")));
+}
+
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()
 
 }
diff --git a/test/libsolidity/SolidityNameAndTypeResolution.cpp b/test/libsolidity/SolidityNameAndTypeResolution.cpp
index 85acd8bf5..2ca3a5624 100644
--- a/test/libsolidity/SolidityNameAndTypeResolution.cpp
+++ b/test/libsolidity/SolidityNameAndTypeResolution.cpp
@@ -2385,6 +2385,18 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(assignment_to_const_array_vars)
 	CHECK_ERROR(text, TypeError, "implemented");
 }
 
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(assignment_to_const_string_bytes)
+{
+	char const* text = R"(
+		contract C {
+			bytes constant a = "\x00\x01\x02";
+			bytes constant b = hex"000102";
+			string constant c = "hello";
+		}
+	)";
+	CHECK_SUCCESS(text);
+}
+
 BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(constant_struct)
 {
 	char const* text = R"(