diff --git a/pmd-apex/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/apex/ApexHandler.java b/pmd-apex/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/apex/ApexHandler.java
index 75da9b9195..8f1437c36d 100644
--- a/pmd-apex/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/apex/ApexHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-apex/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/apex/ApexHandler.java
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.VisitorStarter;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.ast.ASTMethod;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.ast.ASTUserClassOrInterface;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.ast.ApexNode;
@@ -20,7 +19,6 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.metrics.api.ApexClassMetricKey;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.metrics.api.ApexOperationMetricKey;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.multifile.ApexMultifileVisitorFacade;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.apex.rule.ApexRuleViolationFactory;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.metrics.LanguageMetricsProvider;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.metrics.internal.AbstractLanguageMetricsProvider;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.RuleViolationFactory;
@@ -35,12 +33,6 @@ public class ApexHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
         return rootNode -> new ApexMultifileVisitorFacade().initializeWith((ApexNode<?>) rootNode);
     }
 
-
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
     @Override
     public RuleViolationFactory getRuleViolationFactory() {
         return ApexRuleViolationFactory.INSTANCE;
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/AbstractLanguageVersionHandler.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/AbstractLanguageVersionHandler.java
index 857c387c55..1e340f8540 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/AbstractLanguageVersionHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/AbstractLanguageVersionHandler.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang;
 
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.dfa.DFAGraphRule;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.metrics.LanguageMetricsProvider;
 
@@ -21,11 +20,6 @@ public abstract class AbstractLanguageVersionHandler implements LanguageVersionH
         return DataFlowHandler.DUMMY;
     }
 
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
     @Override
     public ParserOptions getDefaultParserOptions() {
         return new ParserOptions();
diff --git a/pmd-jsp/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/jsp/JspHandler.java b/pmd-jsp/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/jsp/JspHandler.java
index 13e26b62a1..4dde455568 100644
--- a/pmd-jsp/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/jsp/JspHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-jsp/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/jsp/JspHandler.java
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.jsp;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of LanguageVersionHandler for the JSP parser.
@@ -17,12 +15,6 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
  */
 public class JspHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
 
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
-
     @Override
     public Parser getParser(ParserOptions parserOptions) {
         return new JspParser(parserOptions);
diff --git a/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/PLSQLHandler.java b/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/PLSQLHandler.java
index 1ec0e75cc8..c14c09803a 100644
--- a/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/PLSQLHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-plsql/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/plsql/PLSQLHandler.java
@@ -9,9 +9,7 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.DataFlowHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.VisitorStarter;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.Node;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.dfa.DFAGraphRule;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.plsql.ast.ASTInput;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.plsql.dfa.DFAPLSQLGraphRule;
@@ -66,11 +64,4 @@ public class PLSQLHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
         };
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Return minimal XPathHandler to cope with Jaxen XPath Rules.
-     */
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-swift/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/swift/SwiftHandler.java b/pmd-swift/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/swift/SwiftHandler.java
index 7f0b548547..585e3c68ae 100644
--- a/pmd-swift/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/swift/SwiftHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-swift/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/swift/SwiftHandler.java
@@ -7,16 +7,9 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.swift;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 
 public class SwiftHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
 
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
     @Override
     public Parser getParser(final ParserOptions parserOptions) {
         return new SwiftParserAdapter(parserOptions);
diff --git a/pmd-visualforce/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vf/VfHandler.java b/pmd-visualforce/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vf/VfHandler.java
index b59699ed35..d46c19f074 100644
--- a/pmd-visualforce/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vf/VfHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-visualforce/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vf/VfHandler.java
@@ -7,16 +7,9 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.vf;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 
 public class VfHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
 
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
     @Override
     public Parser getParser(ParserOptions parserOptions) {
         return new VfParser(parserOptions);
diff --git a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/VmHandler.java b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/VmHandler.java
index 3e2e46531c..4ec4aff3fa 100644
--- a/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/VmHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-vm/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/vm/VmHandler.java
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.vm;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of LanguageVersionHandler for the VM parser.
@@ -16,11 +14,6 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
  */
 public class VmHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
 
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
 
     @Override
     public Parser getParser(final ParserOptions parserOptions) {
diff --git a/pmd-xml/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/xml/XmlHandler.java b/pmd-xml/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/xml/XmlHandler.java
index e712e9285f..97d79e8b5d 100644
--- a/pmd-xml/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/xml/XmlHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-xml/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/xml/XmlHandler.java
@@ -7,19 +7,12 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.xml;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.Parser;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ParserOptions;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of LanguageVersionHandler for the XML.
  */
 public class XmlHandler extends AbstractPmdLanguageVersionHandler {
 
-    @Override
-    public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-    }
-
     @Override
     public ParserOptions getDefaultParserOptions() {
         return new XmlParserOptions();