diff --git a/src/layer-fns.cpp b/src/layer-fns.cpp
index dfb003727dace69f9a34c1d1df6c4b678c1078c2..3f125a7830a16c9335cabc7e399cd75fa2ede3a5 100644
--- a/src/layer-fns.cpp
+++ b/src/layer-fns.cpp
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ SPObject *next_layer(SPObject *root, SPObject *layer) {
     SPObject *sibling = next_sibling_layer(layer);
     if (sibling) {
         result = first_descendant_layer(sibling);
-    } else if ( layer->parent != root ) {
+    } else {
         result = layer->parent;
     }