diff --git a/lightningd/jsonrpc.c b/lightningd/jsonrpc.c
index 446a0fc3b..f5472cbd3 100644
--- a/lightningd/jsonrpc.c
+++ b/lightningd/jsonrpc.c
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ static void json_result(struct json_connection *jcon,
 	else
 		out->json = tal_fmt(out,
 				    "{ \"jsonrpc\": \"2.0\", "
-				    " \"error\" : %s,"
+				    " \"error\" : { \"code\" : -1, \"message\" : %s},"
 				    " \"id\" : %s }\n",
 				    err, id);