diff --git a/src/layui/layui/layLayoutViewFunctions.cc b/src/layui/layui/layLayoutViewFunctions.cc
index 7cbe98685..da5bdafad 100644
--- a/src/layui/layui/layLayoutViewFunctions.cc
+++ b/src/layui/layui/layLayoutViewFunctions.cc
@@ -1230,11 +1230,12 @@ LayoutViewFunctions::do_cm_paste (bool interactive)
 void
 LayoutViewFunctions::cm_new_cell ()
 {
-  lay::CellView cv = view ()->cellview (view ()->active_cellview_index ());
-  if (! cv.is_valid ()) {
+  if (view ()->active_cellview_index () < 0) {
     throw tl::Exception (tl::to_string (tr ("No layout present to add a cell to")));
   }
 
+  lay::CellView cv = view ()->cellview (view ()->active_cellview_index ());
+
   static double s_new_cell_window_size = 2.0;
   static std::string s_new_cell_cell_name;