diff --git a/lib/cyrusdb.c b/lib/cyrusdb.c
index a3c4ca538c5..d829ed9389b 100644
--- a/lib/cyrusdb.c
+++ b/lib/cyrusdb.c
@@ -377,8 +377,6 @@ EXPORTED int cyrusdb_compar(struct db *db,
                    const char *a, int alen,
                    const char *b, int blen)
 {
-    if (!db->backend->compar)
-        return bsearch_ncompare_raw(a, alen, b, blen);
     return db->backend->compar(db->engine, a, alen, b, blen);
 }