diff --git a/lib/validations.js b/lib/validations.js
index bcf6a805..9cd368f9 100644
--- a/lib/validations.js
+++ b/lib/validations.js
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ function validationFailed(inst, v, cb) {
   validatorArguments.push(attr);
   validatorArguments.push(conf);
   validatorArguments.push(function onerror(kind) {
-    var message, code = conf.validation;
+    var message, code = conf.code || conf.validation;
     if (conf.message) {
       message = conf.message;
     }
diff --git a/test/validations.test.js b/test/validations.test.js
index 1a3faf55..935a2669 100644
--- a/test/validations.test.js
+++ b/test/validations.test.js
@@ -295,21 +295,23 @@ describe('validations', function () {
     it('should validate using custom sync validation', function() {
       User.validate('email', function (err) {
         if (this.email === 'hello') err();
-      });
+      }, { code: 'invalid-email' });
       var u = new User({email: 'hello'});
       Boolean(u.isValid()).should.be.false;
+      u.errors.codes.should.eql({ email: ['invalid-email'] });
     });
     
     it('should validate and return detailed error messages', function() {
       User.validate('global', function (err) {
         if (this.email === 'hello' || this.email === 'hey') {
-          this.errors.add('hello', 'Cannot be `' + this.email + '`', 'invalid');
+          this.errors.add('email', 'Cannot be `' + this.email + '`', 'invalid-email');
           err(false); // false: prevent global error message
         }
       });
       var u = new User({email: 'hello'});
       Boolean(u.isValid()).should.be.false;
-      u.errors.should.eql({ hello: [ 'Cannot be `hello`' ] });
+      u.errors.should.eql({ email: ['Cannot be `hello`'] });
+      u.errors.codes.should.eql({ email: ['invalid-email'] });
     });
     
     it('should validate using custom async validation', function(done) {