diff --git a/common/httpclient/httpclient.go b/common/httpclient/httpclient.go
deleted file mode 100644
index a0a1efd388d681a26e5956907c007a86dbed9261..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/common/httpclient/httpclient.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,124 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2015 The go-ethereum Authors
-// This file is part of the go-ethereum library.
-//
-// The go-ethereum library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
-// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-// (at your option) any later version.
-//
-// The go-ethereum library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
-// GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
-//
-// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
-// along with the go-ethereum library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-package httpclient
-
-import (
-	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"net/http"
-	"path/filepath"
-
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/crypto"
-)
-
-type HTTPClient struct {
-	*http.Transport
-	DocRoot string
-	schemes []string
-}
-
-func New(docRoot string) (self *HTTPClient) {
-	self = &HTTPClient{
-		Transport: &http.Transport{},
-		DocRoot:   docRoot,
-		schemes:   []string{"file"},
-	}
-	self.RegisterProtocol("file", http.NewFileTransport(http.Dir(self.DocRoot)))
-	return
-}
-
-// Clients should be reused instead of created as needed. Clients are safe for concurrent use by multiple goroutines.
-
-// A Client is higher-level than a RoundTripper (such as Transport) and additionally handles HTTP details such as cookies and redirects.
-
-func (self *HTTPClient) Client() *http.Client {
-	return &http.Client{
-		Transport: self,
-	}
-}
-
-func (self *HTTPClient) RegisterScheme(scheme string, rt http.RoundTripper) {
-	self.schemes = append(self.schemes, scheme)
-	self.RegisterProtocol(scheme, rt)
-}
-
-func (self *HTTPClient) HasScheme(scheme string) bool {
-	for _, s := range self.schemes {
-		if s == scheme {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-	return false
-}
-
-func (self *HTTPClient) GetAuthContent(uri string, hash common.Hash) ([]byte, error) {
-	// retrieve content
-	content, err := self.Get(uri, "")
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	// check hash to authenticate content
-	chash := crypto.Keccak256Hash(content)
-	if chash != hash {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("content hash mismatch %x != %x (exp)", hash[:], chash[:])
-	}
-
-	return content, nil
-
-}
-
-// Get(uri, path) downloads the document at uri, if path is non-empty it
-// is interpreted as a filepath to which the contents are saved
-func (self *HTTPClient) Get(uri, path string) ([]byte, error) {
-	// retrieve content
-	resp, err := self.Client().Get(uri)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	defer func() {
-		if resp != nil {
-			resp.Body.Close()
-		}
-	}()
-
-	var content []byte
-	content, err = ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	if resp.StatusCode/100 != 2 {
-		return content, fmt.Errorf("HTTP error: %s", resp.Status)
-	}
-
-	if path != "" {
-		var abspath string
-		abspath, err = filepath.Abs(path)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		err = ioutil.WriteFile(abspath, content, 0600)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-	}
-
-	return content, nil
-
-}
diff --git a/common/httpclient/httpclient_test.go b/common/httpclient/httpclient_test.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 670893f8a0981081aed6f58758253f9a0f0e8b9d..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/common/httpclient/httpclient_test.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,77 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2015 The go-ethereum Authors
-// This file is part of the go-ethereum library.
-//
-// The go-ethereum library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
-// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-// (at your option) any later version.
-//
-// The go-ethereum library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
-// GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
-//
-// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
-// along with the go-ethereum library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-package httpclient
-
-import (
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"net/http"
-	"os"
-	"path"
-	"testing"
-
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/crypto"
-)
-
-func TestGetAuthContent(t *testing.T) {
-	dir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "httpclient-test")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal("cannot create temporary directory:", err)
-	}
-	defer os.RemoveAll(dir)
-	client := New(dir)
-
-	text := "test"
-	hash := crypto.Keccak256Hash([]byte(text))
-	if err := ioutil.WriteFile(path.Join(dir, "test.content"), []byte(text), os.ModePerm); err != nil {
-		t.Fatal("could not write test file", err)
-	}
-	content, err := client.GetAuthContent("file:///test.content", hash)
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Errorf("no error expected, got %v", err)
-	}
-	if string(content) != text {
-		t.Errorf("incorrect content. expected %v, got %v", text, string(content))
-	}
-
-	hash = common.Hash{}
-	content, err = client.GetAuthContent("file:///test.content", hash)
-	expected := "content hash mismatch 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 != 9c22ff5f21f0b81b113e63f7db6da94fedef11b2119b4088b89664fb9a3cb658 (exp)"
-	if err == nil {
-		t.Errorf("expected error, got nothing")
-	} else {
-		if err.Error() != expected {
-			t.Errorf("expected error '%s' got '%v'", expected, err)
-		}
-	}
-
-}
-
-type rt struct{}
-
-func (rt) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (resp *http.Response, err error) { return }
-
-func TestRegisterScheme(t *testing.T) {
-	client := New("/tmp/")
-	if client.HasScheme("scheme") {
-		t.Errorf("expected scheme not to be registered")
-	}
-	client.RegisterScheme("scheme", rt{})
-	if !client.HasScheme("scheme") {
-		t.Errorf("expected scheme to be registered")
-	}
-}
diff --git a/les/backend.go b/les/backend.go
index 1264acfd183ba3becff840567bff98892546bd59..774fa8eab693e4dfbc29e2e095d2129d7424dfcd 100644
--- a/les/backend.go
+++ b/les/backend.go
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/accounts"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common/compiler"
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common/httpclient"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core/types"
 	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/eth"
@@ -62,7 +61,6 @@ type LightEthereum struct {
 
 	eventMux       *event.TypeMux
 	pow            *ethash.Ethash
-	httpclient     *httpclient.HTTPClient
 	accountManager *accounts.Manager
 	solcPath       string
 	solc           *compiler.Solidity
@@ -96,7 +94,6 @@ func New(ctx *node.ServiceContext, config *eth.Config) (*LightEthereum, error) {
 		accountManager: ctx.AccountManager,
 		pow:            pow,
 		shutdownChan:   make(chan bool),
-		httpclient:     httpclient.New(config.DocRoot),
 		netVersionId:   config.NetworkId,
 		NatSpec:        config.NatSpec,
 		PowTest:        config.PowTest,
diff --git a/swarm/api/http/roundtripper_test.go b/swarm/api/http/roundtripper_test.go
index 9afad20aed45396487c0dd8716f080d3f92696c1..fc74f5d3a711813888b72ad7309a052dc97e1461 100644
--- a/swarm/api/http/roundtripper_test.go
+++ b/swarm/api/http/roundtripper_test.go
@@ -22,8 +22,6 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
-
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common/httpclient"
 )
 
 const port = "3222"
@@ -41,10 +39,10 @@ func TestRoundTripper(t *testing.T) {
 	go http.ListenAndServe(":"+port, serveMux)
 
 	rt := &RoundTripper{Port: port}
-	client := httpclient.New("/")
-	client.RegisterProtocol("bzz", rt)
-
-	resp, err := client.Client().Get("bzz://test.com/path")
+	trans := &http.Transport{}
+	trans.RegisterProtocol("bzz", rt)
+	client := &http.Client{Transport: trans}
+	resp, err := client.Get("bzz://test.com/path")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("expected no error, got %v", err)
 		return