spring 中的断言的作用

我发现SPRING1.2.6里面有BUG
请看:
org.springframework.core.io.support.EncodedResource中
public EncodedResource(Resource resource, String encoding) {
  Assert.notNull("Resource is required");
  this.resource = resource;
  this.encoding = encoding;
}

/**
* Assert that an object is not <code>null</code> .
* <pre class="code">Assert.notNull(clazz, "The class must not be null");</pre>
* @param object the object to check
* @param message the exception message to use if the assertion fails
* @throws IllegalArgumentException if the object is <code>null</code>
*/
public static void notNull(Object object, String message) {
if (object == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException(message);
}
}