svn_path_join: Assertion `is_canonical(base, blen)' failed.

I have successfully set up Subversion on a debian-etch box and created a
repository. Everything is working fine, except for when I load up svnserve
(for sake of example 'svnserve -d --foreground -r file:///var/svn'), I get
the following error message when I run a svn list svn://mydomain.com:

On the box doing svn list:
svn: Connection closed unexpectedly

On the box serving foreground:
svnserve:
/tmp/buildd/subversion-1.4.2dfsg1/subversion/libsvn_subr/path.c:114:
svn_path_join: Assertion `is_canonical(base, blen)' failed.

I have searched around thoroughly and asked in IRC but no resolve. Does
anyone know how this can be fixed?

-- 
Thanks,
Jacob Swartz