diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/xml_serialization.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/xml_serialization.rb
index 88ff46a004..5f7a39d73b 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/xml_serialization.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/xml_serialization.rb
@@ -205,13 +205,10 @@ module ActiveRecord #:nodoc:
           case @record.class.reflect_on_association(association).macro
           when :has_many, :has_and_belongs_to_many
             records = @record.send(association).to_a
-            unless records.empty?
-              tag = association.to_s
-              tag = tag.dasherize if dasherize?
-
-              builder.tag!(tag, :type => :array) do
-                records.each { |r| r.to_xml(opts.merge(:root=>r.class.to_s.underscore)) }
-              end
+            tag = association.to_s
+            tag = tag.dasherize if dasherize?
+            builder.tag!(tag, :type => :array) do
+              records.each { |r| r.to_xml(opts.merge(:root=>r.class.to_s.underscore)) }
             end
           when :has_one, :belongs_to
             if record = @record.send(association)
diff --git a/activerecord/test/xml_serialization_test.rb b/activerecord/test/xml_serialization_test.rb
index 8c59d5d26b..824f486d2e 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/xml_serialization_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/xml_serialization_test.rb
@@ -162,4 +162,12 @@ class DatabaseConnectedXmlSerializationTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_match %r{^  <label>.*</label>}, xml
     assert_no_match %r{^      <label>}, xml
   end
+  
+  def test_should_include_empty_has_many_as_empty_array
+    authors(:david).posts.delete_all    
+    xml = authors(:david).to_xml :include=>:posts, :indent => 0
+    
+    assert_match %r{<posts type="array"></posts>}, xml
+  end
+  
 end
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