diff --git a/netlib/http.py b/netlib/http.py
index f1a2bfb56..7060b688b 100644
--- a/netlib/http.py
+++ b/netlib/http.py
@@ -283,32 +283,23 @@ def parse_init_http(line):
     return method, url, httpversion
 
 
-def request_connection_close(httpversion, headers):
+def connection_close(httpversion, headers):
     """
-        Checks the request to see if the client connection should be closed.
+        Checks the message to see if the client connection should be closed according to RFC 2616 Section 8.1
     """
+    # At first, check if we have an explicit Connection header.
     if "connection" in headers:
         toks = get_header_tokens(headers, "connection")
         if "close" in toks:
             return True
         elif "keep-alive" in toks:
             return False
-    # HTTP 1.1 connections are assumed to be persistent
+    # If we don't have a Connection header, HTTP 1.1 connections are assumed to be persistent
     if httpversion == (1, 1):
         return False
     return True
 
 
-def response_connection_close(httpversion, headers):
-    """
-        Checks the response to see if the client connection should be closed.
-    """
-    if request_connection_close(httpversion, headers):
-        return True
-    elif (not has_chunked_encoding(headers)) and "content-length" in headers:
-        return False
-    return True
-
 
 def read_http_body_request(rfile, wfile, headers, httpversion, limit):
     """
diff --git a/test/test_http.py b/test/test_http.py
index 62d0c3dcc..4d89bf246 100644
--- a/test/test_http.py
+++ b/test/test_http.py
@@ -38,28 +38,16 @@ def test_read_chunked():
     tutils.raises("too large", http.read_chunked, 500, s, 2)
 
 
-def test_request_connection_close():
+def test_connection_close():
     h = odict.ODictCaseless()
-    assert http.request_connection_close((1, 0), h)
-    assert not http.request_connection_close((1, 1), h)
+    assert http.connection_close((1, 0), h)
+    assert not http.connection_close((1, 1), h)
 
     h["connection"] = ["keep-alive"]
-    assert not http.request_connection_close((1, 1), h)
+    assert not http.connection_close((1, 1), h)
 
     h["connection"] = ["close"]
-    assert http.request_connection_close((1, 1), h)
-
-
-def test_response_connection_close():
-    h = odict.ODictCaseless()
-    assert http.response_connection_close((1, 1), h)
-
-    h["content-length"] = [10]
-    assert not http.response_connection_close((1, 1), h)
-
-    h["connection"] = ["close"]
-    assert http.response_connection_close((1, 1), h)
-
+    assert http.connection_close((1, 1), h)
 
 def test_read_http_body_response():
     h = odict.ODictCaseless()