diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 78d6b446a..950c7a4b9 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -119,6 +119,9 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #1330: Fix :confval:`exclude_patterns` behavior with subdirectories in the
   :confval:`html_static_path`.
 
+* #1323: Fix emitting empty ``<ul>`` tags in the HTML writer, which is not
+  valid HTML.
+
 Documentation
 -------------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html.py b/sphinx/writers/html.py
index 41663a0cc..2d68564f5 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html.py
@@ -240,6 +240,12 @@ class HTMLTranslator(BaseTranslator):
                 self.body.append('.'.join(map(str, numbers)) +
                                  self.secnumber_suffix)
 
+    # overwritten to avoid emitting empty <ul></ul>
+    def visit_bullet_list(self, node):
+        if len(node) == 1 and node[0].tagname == 'toctree':
+            raise nodes.SkipNode
+        BaseTranslator.visit_bullet_list(self, node)
+
     # overwritten
     def visit_title(self, node):
         BaseTranslator.visit_title(self, node)