diff --git a/Library/Contributions/cmd/brew-ls-taps.rb b/Library/Contributions/cmd/brew-ls-taps.rb
index 98c14dccf2..40cf0cafe3 100755
--- a/Library/Contributions/cmd/brew-ls-taps.rb
+++ b/Library/Contributions/cmd/brew-ls-taps.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-require 'vendor/multi_json'
+require 'utils/json'
 
 GitHub.open "https://api.github.com/legacy/repos/search/homebrew" do |f|
-  MultiJson.decode(f.read)["repositories"].each do |repo|
+  Utils::JSON.load(f.read)["repositories"].each do |repo|
     if repo['name'] =~ /^homebrew-(\S+)$/
       puts tap = if repo['username'] == "Homebrew"
         "homebrew/#{$1}"
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/info.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/info.rb
index de98d692c0..b5f133dfd4 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/info.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/info.rb
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ require 'tab'
 require 'keg'
 require 'caveats'
 require 'blacklist'
+require 'utils/json'
 
 module Homebrew extend self
   def info
@@ -46,14 +47,12 @@ module Homebrew extend self
   end
 
   def print_json
-    require 'vendor/multi_json'
-
     formulae = ARGV.include?("--all") ? Formula : ARGV.formulae
     json = formulae.map {|f| f.to_hash}
     if json.size == 1
-      puts MultiJson.encode json.pop
+      puts Utils::JSON.dump(json.pop)
     else
-      puts MultiJson.encode json
+      puts Utils::JSON.dump(json)
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb
index 0ac76e435d..2ec8afd81d 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/cmd/search.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require 'formula'
 require 'blacklist'
 require 'utils'
-require 'vendor/multi_json'
+require 'utils/json'
 
 module Homebrew extend self
   def search
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ module Homebrew extend self
     results = []
     GitHub.open "https://api.github.com/repos/#{user}/homebrew-#{repo}/git/trees/HEAD?recursive=1" do |f|
       user.downcase! if user == "Homebrew" # special handling for the Homebrew organization
-      MultiJson.decode(f.read)["tree"].map{ |hash| hash['path'] }.compact.each do |file|
+      Utils::JSON.load(f.read)["tree"].map{ |hash| hash['path'] }.compact.each do |file|
         name = File.basename(file, '.rb')
         if file =~ /\.rb$/ and name =~ rx
           results << "#{user}/#{repo}/#{name}"
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index 8e3bd81391..c7d6aeefb6 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 require 'open-uri'
-require 'vendor/multi_json'
+require 'utils/json'
 
 class AbstractDownloadStrategy
   attr_accessor :local_bottle_path
@@ -172,12 +172,12 @@ end
 # Detect and download from Apache Mirror
 class CurlApacheMirrorDownloadStrategy < CurlDownloadStrategy
   def _fetch
-    mirrors = MultiJson.decode(open("#{@url}&asjson=1").read)
+    mirrors = Utils::JSON.load(open("#{@url}&asjson=1").read)
     url = mirrors.fetch('preferred') + mirrors.fetch('path_info')
 
     ohai "Best Mirror #{url}"
     curl url, '-C', downloaded_size, '-o', @temporary_path
-  rescue IndexError, MultiJson::DecodeError
+  rescue IndexError, Utils::JSON::Error
     raise "Couldn't determine mirror. Try again later."
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb b/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb
index d35f69f8ad..48f7091133 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/tab.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 require 'ostruct'
 require 'options'
-require 'vendor/multi_json'
+require 'utils/json'
 
 # Inherit from OpenStruct to gain a generic initialization method that takes a
 # hash and creates an attribute for each key and value. `Tab.new` probably
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class Tab < OpenStruct
   end
 
   def self.from_file path
-    tab = Tab.new MultiJson.decode(open(path).read)
+    tab = Tab.new Utils::JSON.load(open(path).read)
     tab.tabfile = path
     tab
   end
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class Tab < OpenStruct
   end
 
   def to_json
-    MultiJson.encode({
+    Utils::JSON.dump({
       :used_options => used_options.to_a,
       :unused_options => unused_options.to_a,
       :built_as_bottle => built_as_bottle,
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_json.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_json.rb
index 6bece67c00..f77b7852d9 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/test_json.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/test_json.rb
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 require 'testing_env'
-require 'vendor/multi_json'
+require 'utils/json'
 
 class JsonSmokeTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   def test_encode
     hash = { "foo" => ["bar", "baz"] }
     json = %q|{"foo":["bar","baz"]}|
-    assert_equal json, MultiJson.encode(hash)
+    assert_equal json, Utils::JSON.dump(hash)
   end
 
   def test_decode
     hash = { "foo" => ["bar", "baz"], "qux" => 1 }
     json = %q|{"foo":["bar","baz"],"qux":1}|
-    assert_equal hash, MultiJson.decode(json)
+    assert_equal hash, Utils::JSON.load(json)
   end
 end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
index 60eead67c8..f8b5466f26 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 require 'pathname'
 require 'exceptions'
 require 'macos'
-require 'vendor/multi_json'
+require 'utils/json'
 require 'open-uri'
 
 class Tty
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ module GitHub extend self
     Kernel.open(url, default_headers.merge(headers), &block)
   rescue OpenURI::HTTPError => e
     if e.io.meta['x-ratelimit-remaining'].to_i <= 0
-      raise "GitHub #{MultiJson.decode(e.io.read)['message']}"
+      raise "GitHub #{Utils::JSON.load(e.io.read)['message']}"
     else
       raise e
     end
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@ module GitHub extend self
     uri = URI.parse("https://api.github.com/legacy/issues/search/mxcl/homebrew/open/#{name}")
 
     GitHub.open uri do |f|
-      MultiJson.decode(f.read)['issues'].each do |issue|
+      Utils::JSON.load(f.read)['issues'].each do |issue|
         # don't include issues that just refer to the tool in their body
         issues << issue['html_url'] if issue['title'].include? name
       end
@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ module GitHub extend self
     uri = URI.parse("https://api.github.com/legacy/issues/search/mxcl/homebrew/open/#{query}")
 
     GitHub.open uri do |f|
-      MultiJson.decode(f.read)['issues'].each do |pull|
+      Utils::JSON.load(f.read)['issues'].each do |pull|
         yield pull['pull_request_url'] if rx.match pull['title'] and pull['pull_request_url']
       end
     end
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/utils/json.rb b/Library/Homebrew/utils/json.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f52881c84a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/utils/json.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+require 'vendor/multi_json'
+
+module Utils
+  module JSON
+    extend self
+
+    Error = Class.new(StandardError)
+
+    def load(str)
+      MultiJson.load(str)
+    rescue MultiJson::DecodeError => e
+      raise Error, e.message
+    end
+
+    def dump(obj)
+      MultiJson.dump(obj)
+    rescue MultiJson::EncodeError => e
+      raise Error, e.message
+    end
+  end
+end