--- a/src/luan/modules/http/impl/Http.luan	Mon Feb 05 22:33:59 2018 -0700
+++ b/src/luan/modules/http/impl/Http.luan	Mon Feb 05 22:59:52 2018 -0700
@@ -77,6 +77,15 @@
 		this.headers["location"] = location
 	end
 
+	function this.send_error(status,msg)
+		this.status = status
+		if msg ~= nil then
+			this.headers["content-type"] = "text/plain"
+			local writer = this.text_writer()
+			writer.write(msg)
+		end
+	end
+
 	function this.set_cookie(name,value,attributes)
 		HttpServicer.setCookie(this.java,name,value,attributes)
 	end
@@ -94,14 +103,12 @@
 	end
 
 	function this.text_writer()
-		this.writer and error "writer already set"
 		this.writer = ResponseOutputStream.new(this.java)
 		this.writer = OutputStreamWriter.new(this.writer)
 		return IoLuan.textWriter(this.writer)
 	end
 
 	function this.binary_writer()
-		this.writer and error "writer already set"
 		this.writer = ResponseOutputStream.new(this.java)
 		return IoLuan.binaryWriter(this.writer)
 	end