--- a/VirtualMailManager/EmailAddress.py	Wed Feb 24 04:01:48 2010 +0000
+++ b/VirtualMailManager/EmailAddress.py	Wed Feb 24 05:04:30 2010 +0000
@@ -23,9 +23,7 @@
 
     def __init__(self, address):
         """Creates a new instance from the string/unicode ``address``."""
-        if not isinstance(address, basestring):
-            raise TypeError('address is not a str/unicode object: %r' %
-                            address)
+        assert isinstance(address, basestring)
         self._localpart = None
         self._domainname = None
         self._chk_address(address)