diff --git a/src/xercesc/dom/DOMDocument.hpp b/src/xercesc/dom/DOMDocument.hpp
index f930920a432784b5f76989b910d0480ed125a448..98a6f5df968f1495cdfc424739466d90fe2dfbea 100644
--- a/src/xercesc/dom/DOMDocument.hpp
+++ b/src/xercesc/dom/DOMDocument.hpp
@@ -1171,10 +1171,6 @@ public:
                                                   const XMLSSize_t columnNum) = 0;
     //@}
 
-private:
-    friend class DOMNode;
-    friend class DOMImplementation;
-
 };
 
 XERCES_CPP_NAMESPACE_END