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 f28567827b..634e00fe24 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
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractLanguageVersionHandler implements LanguageVersionH
 
     @Override
     public XPathHandler getXPathHandler() {
-        return XPathHandler.DEFAULT;
+        return XPathHandler.DUMMY;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/XPathHandler.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/XPathHandler.java
index 108a473eb5..2895550346 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/XPathHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/XPathHandler.java
@@ -6,65 +6,32 @@ package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang;
 
 import org.jaxen.Navigator;
 
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.Rule;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.annotation.InternalApi;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath.DefaultASTXPathHandler;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.XPathRule;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.XPathVersion;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.xpath.Initializer;
 
 import net.sf.saxon.sxpath.IndependentContext;
 
 /**
- * Handles the XPath-specific behaviour of a language.
+ * Interface for performing Language specific XPath handling, such as
+ * initialization and navigation.
  */
-// TODO move to rule.xpath package
+@InternalApi
+@Deprecated
 public interface XPathHandler {
 
-    /**
-     * @deprecated Use {@link #DEFAULT}.
-     */
-    @Deprecated
     XPathHandler DUMMY = new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
 
-    /**
-     * Default instance. Declares no additional XPath functions.
-     */
-    XPathHandler DEFAULT = new DefaultASTXPathHandler();
-
-
-    /**
-     * Creates a new XPath rule for the given version and expression.
-     * Note: this isn't used by the ruleset factory for the moment,
-     * XPath rules are created like normal rules. Programmatic usages
-     * of {@link XPathRule} should be replaced with calls to this method.
-     * The ruleset schema will get a new syntax for XPath rules in 7.0.0.
-     *
-     * @param version         Version of the XPath language
-     * @param xpathExpression XPath expression
-     *
-     * @return A new rule
-     *
-     * @throws NullPointerException If any of the arguments is null
-     */
-    Rule newXPathRule(XPathVersion version, String xpathExpression);
-
-
     /**
      * Initialize. This is intended to be called by {@link Initializer} to
      * perform Language specific initialization.
-     *
-     * @deprecated Support for Jaxen will be removed come 7.0.0
      */
-    @Deprecated
     void initialize();
 
     /**
      * Initialize. This is intended to be called by {@link Initializer} to
      * perform Language specific initialization for Saxon.
-     *
-     * @deprecated Internal API
      */
-    @Deprecated
     void initialize(IndependentContext context);
 
     /**
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AbstractASTXPathHandler.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AbstractASTXPathHandler.java
index f4c1e8ddbe..eb470c94bd 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AbstractASTXPathHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/AbstractASTXPathHandler.java
@@ -25,4 +25,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractASTXPathHandler implements XPathHandler {
     public void initialize(IndependentContext context, Language language, Class<?> functionsClass) {
         context.declareNamespace("pmd-" + language.getTerseName(), "java:" + functionsClass.getName());
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public void initialize() {
+        // override if needed
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void initialize(IndependentContext context) {
+        // override if needed
+    }
 }
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/DefaultASTXPathHandler.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/DefaultASTXPathHandler.java
index 9510e04f84..3fa844f28a 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/DefaultASTXPathHandler.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/ast/xpath/DefaultASTXPathHandler.java
@@ -4,10 +4,7 @@
 
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.xpath;
 
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.Rule;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.annotation.InternalApi;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.XPathRule;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.XPathVersion;
 
 import net.sf.saxon.sxpath.IndependentContext;
 
@@ -16,11 +13,6 @@ import net.sf.saxon.sxpath.IndependentContext;
 @InternalApi
 public class DefaultASTXPathHandler extends AbstractASTXPathHandler {
 
-    @Override
-    public Rule newXPathRule(XPathVersion version, String xpathExpression) {
-        return new XPathRule(version, xpathExpression);
-    }
-
     @Override
     public void initialize() {
         // override if needed
diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/XPathRule.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/XPathRule.java
index f6a36b903f..25451cd860 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/XPathRule.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/rule/XPathRule.java
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ import java.util.Objects;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.RuleContext;
-import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.XPathHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.ast.Node;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.JaxenXPathRuleQuery;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.rule.xpath.SaxonXPathRuleQuery;
@@ -32,7 +31,7 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.properties.StringProperty;
 public class XPathRule extends AbstractRule {
 
     /**
-     * @deprecated Use {@link XPathHandler#newXPathRule(XPathVersion, String)}
+     * @deprecated Use {@link #XPathRule(XPathVersion, String)}
      */
     @Deprecated
     public static final StringProperty XPATH_DESCRIPTOR = StringProperty.named("xpath")
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@ public class XPathRule extends AbstractRule {
 
 
     /**
-     * @deprecated Use {@link XPathHandler#newXPathRule(XPathVersion, String)}
+     * @deprecated Use {@link #XPathRule(XPathVersion, String)}
      */
     @Deprecated
     public static final EnumeratedProperty<String> VERSION_DESCRIPTOR = EnumeratedProperty.<String>named("version")