diff --git a/Tag.cpp b/Tag.cpp
index 46167ec..9424198 100644
--- a/Tag.cpp
+++ b/Tag.cpp
@@ -499,6 +499,17 @@ namespace jet {
 	 coreutils::MString name;
 	 coreutils::MString modifier;
 	 renderVariableName(variable, name, modifier);
+	 // local is NULL at the true top level (jet-2.0.cpp's own
+	 // new jet::__jet(data, out, global, NULL, NULL)) and stays NULL
+	 // through any tag that doesn't establish its own local scope (most
+	 // don't - <if>/<while>/<until>/<until>'s splitTagName constructor
+	 // form is the exception, passing `this` as local) - dereferencing
+	 // it unconditionally here crashes (SIGABRT/segfault, not a clean
+	 // catchable exception) rather than reporting a normal error.
+	 // Confirmed via a real crash while testing #[name] inside a custom
+	 // tag invocation with no enclosing local-scope-owning tag.
+	 if(local == NULL)
+	   throw coreutils::Exception("local variable requested but no local scope is active.");
 	 if(local->variables.find(name) == local->variables.end())
 	   throw coreutils::Exception("local variable is not initialized.");
 	 return local->variables[name];
@@ -550,10 +561,15 @@ namespace jet {
       }
       if((scope == "global") || (scope == ""))
 	global.variables[variable] = value;
-      else if(scope == "local")
-	local->variables[variable] = value;
-      else if(scope == "parent")
-	local->parent->variables[variable] = value;
+      else if(scope == "local") {
+	 if(local == NULL)
+	   throw coreutils::Exception("scope=\"local\" requested but no local scope is active.");
+	 local->variables[variable] = value;
+      } else if(scope == "parent") {
+	 if((local == NULL) || (local->parent == NULL))
+	   throw coreutils::Exception("scope=\"parent\" requested but no local scope (or its parent) is active.");
+	 local->parent->variables[variable] = value;
+      }
    }
 
    void Tag::storeVariable(coreutils::ZString variable, coreutils::MString value, coreutils::ZString scope) {
diff --git a/jet-2.0.cpp b/jet-2.0.cpp
index 6ad22fa..fed52e5 100644
--- a/jet-2.0.cpp
+++ b/jet-2.0.cpp
@@ -23,16 +23,37 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp) {
       std::cout << out;
    }
    catch(coreutils::Exception e) {
-      data.setCursor(global.errorCursor);
-      data.moveBackToLineStart();
       std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
-      std::cout << "Error in jet script '" << argv[1] << "' at line " << data.getLineNumberAtCursor() << std::endl; 
       std::cout << "Error text: " << e.text << std::endl;
-      std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
-      std::cout << data.parsed() << std::endl;
-      std::cout << "******** Error caught: " << e.text << std::endl;
-      std::cout << data.unparsed() << std::endl;
+      // global.errorCursor is updated by every Tag's own construction, so
+      // it can point into a completely different buffer than `data` (the
+      // top-level script) - most commonly, a custom tag's own expanded
+      // template body (container3 in __dotag.cpp) when the error actually
+      // happened while that was being processed, not the top-level script
+      // directly. ZString::setCursor() correctly rejects a cursor that
+      // isn't within its own buffer, but that rejection is itself a throw
+      // - uncaught here, a SECOND exception escaping while this catch
+      // block is still handling the first one calls std::terminate()
+      // immediately, crashing the whole process instead of reporting a
+      // normal error. Confirmed via a real crash + gdb backtrace while
+      // testing an error thrown from inside a custom tag's own body.
+      // Degrade gracefully instead: the error text above is already the
+      // important part; the precise source-line context is a bonus only
+      // available when the cursor genuinely belongs to this buffer.
+      try {
+	 data.setCursor(global.errorCursor);
+	 data.moveBackToLineStart();
+	 std::cout << "Error in jet script '" << argv[1] << "' at line " << data.getLineNumberAtCursor() << std::endl;
+	 std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
+	 std::cout << data.parsed() << std::endl;
+	 std::cout << "******** Error caught: " << e.text << std::endl;
+	 std::cout << data.unparsed() << std::endl;
+      } catch(coreutils::Exception) {
+	 std::cout << "(error originated inside a custom tag's own expansion - "
+	            << "no precise source-line context available for it)" << std::endl;
+	 std::cout << "-----------------------------" << std::endl;
+      }
       global.dump();
-   } 
+   }
    
 }