diff --git a/src/librustc/middle/traits/select.rs b/src/librustc/middle/traits/select.rs
index f8c1c37452b..7098033a533 100644
--- a/src/librustc/middle/traits/select.rs
+++ b/src/librustc/middle/traits/select.rs
@@ -1104,18 +1104,29 @@ impl<'cx, 'tcx> SelectionContext<'cx, 'tcx> {
          * Returns true if `candidate_i` should be dropped in favor of `candidate_j`.
          * This is generally true if either:
          * - candidate i and candidate j are equivalent; or,
-         * - candidate i is a where clause bound and candidate j is a concrete impl,
+         * - candidate i is a conrete impl and candidate j is a where clause bound,
          *   and the concrete impl is applicable to the types in the where clause bound.
          *
-         * The last case basically occurs with blanket impls like
-         * `impl<T> Foo for T`.  In that case, a bound like `T:Foo` is
-         * kind of an "false" ambiguity -- both are applicable to any
-         * type, but in fact coherence requires that the bound will
-         * always be resolved to the impl anyway.
+         * The last case refers to cases where there are blanket impls (often conditional
+         * blanket impls) as well as a where clause. This can come down to one of two cases:
+         *
+         * - The impl is truly unconditional (it has no where clauses
+         *   of its own), in which case the where clause is
+         *   unnecessary, because coherence requires that we would
+         *   pick that particular impl anyhow (at least so long as we
+         *   don't have specialization).
+         *
+         * - The impl is conditional, in which case we may not have winnowed it out
+         *   because we don't know if the conditions apply, but the where clause is basically
+         *   telling us taht there is some impl, though not necessarily the one we see.
+         *
+         * In both cases we prefer to take the where clause, which is
+         * essentially harmless.  See issue #18453 for more details of
+         * a case where doing the opposite caused us harm.
          */
 
         match (candidate_i, candidate_j) {
-            (&ParamCandidate(ref vt), &ImplCandidate(impl_def_id)) => {
+            (&ImplCandidate(impl_def_id), &ParamCandidate(ref vt)) => {
                 debug!("Considering whether to drop param {} in favor of impl {}",
                        candidate_i.repr(self.tcx()),
                        candidate_j.repr(self.tcx()));
diff --git a/src/test/run-pass/trait-where-clause-vs-impl.rs b/src/test/run-pass/trait-where-clause-vs-impl.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..772310d4733
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/run-pass/trait-where-clause-vs-impl.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+// Copyright 2014 The Rust Project Developers. See the COPYRIGHT
+// file at the top-level directory of this distribution and at
+// http://rust-lang.org/COPYRIGHT.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 <LICENSE-APACHE or
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> or the MIT license
+// <LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT>, at your
+// option. This file may not be copied, modified, or distributed
+// except according to those terms.
+
+// Test that when there is a conditional (but blanket) impl and a
+// where clause, we don't get confused in trait resolution.
+//
+// Issue #18453.
+
+use std::rc::Rc;
+
+pub trait Foo<M> {
+    fn foo(&mut self, msg: M);
+}
+
+pub trait Bar<M> {
+    fn dummy(&self) -> M;
+}
+
+impl<M, F: Bar<M>> Foo<M> for F {
+    fn foo(&mut self, msg: M) {
+    }
+}
+
+pub struct Both<M, F> {
+    inner: Rc<(M, F)>,
+}
+
+impl<M, F: Foo<M>> Clone for Both<M, F> {
+    fn clone(&self) -> Both<M, F> {
+        Both { inner: self.inner.clone() }
+    }
+}
+
+fn repro1<M, F: Foo<M>>(_both: Both<M, F>) {
+}
+
+fn repro2<M, F: Foo<M>>(msg: M, foo: F) {
+    let both = Both { inner: Rc::new((msg, foo)) };
+    repro1(both.clone()); // <--- This clone causes problem
+}
+
+pub fn main() {
+}