diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index 580feeb32..96d08788f 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ Other contributors, listed alphabetically, are:
 * Stefan Seefeld -- toctree improvements
 * Gregory Szorc -- performance improvements
 * Taku Shimizu -- epub3 builder
-* Antonio Valentino -- qthelp builder
+* Antonio Valentino -- qthelp builder, docstring inheritance
 * Filip Vavera -- napoleon todo directive
 * Pauli Virtanen -- autodoc improvements, autosummary extension
 * Stefan van der Walt -- autosummary extension
diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6eaf62af2..bee7cbf32 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ Features added
   - ``ref.python`` (ref: #3866)
 * #3872: Add latex key to configure literal blocks caption position in PDF
   output (refs #3792, #1723)
+* In case of missing docstring try to retrieve doc from base classes (ref: #3140)
 
 
 Features removed
diff --git a/doc/ext/autodoc.rst b/doc/ext/autodoc.rst
index 1f1892dbf..bfd55c81a 100644
--- a/doc/ext/autodoc.rst
+++ b/doc/ext/autodoc.rst
@@ -393,6 +393,16 @@ There are also new config values that you can set:
    If ``False`` is given, autodoc forcely suppresses the error if the imported
    module emits warnings.  By default, ``True``.
 
+.. confval:: autodoc_inherit_docstrings
+
+   This value controls the docstrings inheritance.
+   If set to True the cocstring for classes or methods, if not explicitly set,
+   is inherited form parents.
+
+   The default is ``True``.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 1.7
+
 Docstring preprocessing
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/ext/autodoc/__init__.py b/sphinx/ext/autodoc/__init__.py
index 967cd9c5a..0af344751 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/autodoc/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/autodoc/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ from sphinx.util import logging
 from sphinx.util.nodes import nested_parse_with_titles
 from sphinx.util.inspect import Signature, isdescriptor, safe_getmembers, \
     safe_getattr, object_description, is_builtin_class_method, \
-    isenumclass, isenumattribute
+    isenumclass, isenumattribute, getdoc
 from sphinx.util.docstrings import prepare_docstring
 
 if False:
@@ -525,6 +525,8 @@ class Documenter(object):
         # type: (unicode, int) -> List[List[unicode]]
         """Decode and return lines of the docstring(s) for the object."""
         docstring = self.get_attr(self.object, '__doc__', None)
+        if docstring is None and self.env.config.autodoc_inherit_docstrings:
+            docstring = getdoc(self.object)
         # make sure we have Unicode docstrings, then sanitize and split
         # into lines
         if isinstance(docstring, text_type):
@@ -682,6 +684,9 @@ class Documenter(object):
             isattr = False
 
             doc = self.get_attr(member, '__doc__', None)
+            if doc is None and self.env.config.autodoc_inherit_docstrings:
+                doc = getdoc(member)
+
             # if the member __doc__ is the same as self's __doc__, it's just
             # inherited and therefore not the member's doc
             cls = self.get_attr(member, '__class__', None)
@@ -1617,6 +1622,7 @@ def setup(app):
     app.add_config_value('autodoc_docstring_signature', True, True)
     app.add_config_value('autodoc_mock_imports', [], True)
     app.add_config_value('autodoc_warningiserror', True, True)
+    app.add_config_value('autodoc_inherit_docstrings', True, True)
     app.add_event('autodoc-process-docstring')
     app.add_event('autodoc-process-signature')
     app.add_event('autodoc-skip-member')
diff --git a/sphinx/util/inspect.py b/sphinx/util/inspect.py
index 3f95dfcfe..a2928fc7e 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/inspect.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/inspect.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import re
+import sys
 import typing
 import inspect
 from collections import OrderedDict
@@ -456,3 +457,102 @@ class Signature(object):
                                    ', '.join(param_strings))
 
         return qualified_name
+
+
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 5):
+    getdoc = inspect.getdoc
+else:
+    # code copied from the inspect.py module of the standard library
+    # of Python 3.5
+
+    def _findclass(func):
+        cls = sys.modules.get(func.__module__)
+        if cls is None:
+            return None
+        if hasattr(func, 'im_class'):
+            cls = func.im_class
+        else:
+            for name in func.__qualname__.split('.')[:-1]:
+                cls = getattr(cls, name)
+        if not inspect.isclass(cls):
+            return None
+        return cls
+
+    def _finddoc(obj):
+        if inspect.isclass(obj):
+            for base in obj.__mro__:
+                if base is not object:
+                    try:
+                        doc = base.__doc__
+                    except AttributeError:
+                        continue
+                    if doc is not None:
+                        return doc
+            return None
+
+        if inspect.ismethod(obj) and getattr(obj, '__self__', None):
+            name = obj.__func__.__name__
+            self = obj.__self__
+            if (inspect.isclass(self) and
+                    getattr(getattr(self, name, None), '__func__')
+                    is obj.__func__):
+                # classmethod
+                cls = self
+            else:
+                cls = self.__class__
+        elif inspect.isfunction(obj) or inspect.ismethod(obj):
+            name = obj.__name__
+            cls = _findclass(obj)
+            if cls is None or getattr(cls, name) != obj:
+                return None
+        elif inspect.isbuiltin(obj):
+            name = obj.__name__
+            self = obj.__self__
+            if (inspect.isclass(self) and
+                    self.__qualname__ + '.' + name == obj.__qualname__):
+                # classmethod
+                cls = self
+            else:
+                cls = self.__class__
+        # Should be tested before isdatadescriptor().
+        elif isinstance(obj, property):
+            func = obj.fget
+            name = func.__name__
+            cls = _findclass(func)
+            if cls is None or getattr(cls, name) is not obj:
+                return None
+        elif inspect.ismethoddescriptor(obj) or inspect.isdatadescriptor(obj):
+            name = obj.__name__
+            cls = obj.__objclass__
+            if getattr(cls, name) is not obj:
+                return None
+        else:
+            return None
+
+        for base in cls.__mro__:
+            try:
+                doc = getattr(base, name).__doc__
+            except AttributeError:
+                continue
+            if doc is not None:
+                return doc
+        return None
+
+    def getdoc(object):
+        """Get the documentation string for an object.
+
+        All tabs are expanded to spaces.  To clean up docstrings that are
+        indented to line up with blocks of code, any whitespace than can be
+        uniformly removed from the second line onwards is removed."""
+        try:
+            doc = object.__doc__
+        except AttributeError:
+            return None
+        if doc is None:
+            try:
+                doc = _finddoc(object)
+            except (AttributeError, TypeError):
+                return None
+        if not isinstance(doc, str):
+            return None
+        return inspect.cleandoc(doc)
diff --git a/tests/test_autodoc.py b/tests/test_autodoc.py
index caf31b7e9..af94de80e 100644
--- a/tests/test_autodoc.py
+++ b/tests/test_autodoc.py
@@ -431,6 +431,13 @@ def test_get_doc():
     directive.env.config.autoclass_content = 'both'
     assert getdocl('class', I) == ['Class docstring', '', 'New docstring']
 
+    # NOTE: inspect.getdoc seems not to work with locally defined classes
+    directive.env.config.autodoc_inherit_docstrings = False
+    assert getdocl('method', Base.inheritedmeth) == ['Inherited function.']
+    assert getdocl('method', Derived.inheritedmeth) == []
+    directive.env.config.autodoc_inherit_docstrings = True
+    assert getdocl('method', Derived.inheritedmeth) == ['Inherited function.']
+
 
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures('setup_test')
 def test_docstring_processing():
@@ -941,6 +948,12 @@ class Base(object):
         """Inherited function."""
 
 
+class Derived(Base):
+    def inheritedmeth(self):
+        # no docstring here
+        pass
+
+
 class Class(Base):
     """Class to document."""