diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -852,8 +852,6 @@ class localrepository(repo.repository):
             user = wctx.user()
             text = wctx.description()
 
-            if branchname == 'default' and extra.get('close'):
-                raise util.Abort(_('closing the default branch is invalid'))
             p1, p2 = [p.node() for p in wctx.parents()]
             c1 = self.changelog.read(p1)
             c2 = self.changelog.read(p2)