diff --git a/ledger/common.go b/ledger/common.go
index 9dab8d4f..f77a5f84 100644
--- a/ledger/common.go
+++ b/ledger/common.go
@@ -227,7 +227,10 @@ func NewAddress(addr string) (Address, error) {
 		return Address{}, err
 	}
 	a := Address{}
-	a.populateFromBytes(decoded)
+	err := a.populateFromBytes(decoded)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Address{}, err
+	}
 	return a, nil
 }
 
@@ -295,7 +298,10 @@ func (a *Address) UnmarshalCBOR(data []byte) error {
 	if _, err := cbor.Decode(data, &tmpData); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	a.populateFromBytes(tmpData)
+	err := a.populateFromBytes(tmpData)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Address{}, err
+	}
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/ledger/common_test.go b/ledger/common_test.go
index 826c4db9..1adee454 100644
--- a/ledger/common_test.go
+++ b/ledger/common_test.go
@@ -142,7 +142,13 @@ func TestAddressFromBytes(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, testDef := range testDefs {
 		addr := Address{}
-		addr.populateFromBytes(test.DecodeHexString(testDef.addressBytesHex))
+		err := addr.populateFromBytes(test.DecodeHexString(testDef.addressBytesHex))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf(
+				"failure populating address from bytes: %s",
+				err,
+			)
+		}
 		if addr.String() != testDef.expectedAddress {
 			t.Fatalf(
 				"address did not match expected value, got: %s, wanted: %s",