diff --git a/dtc-lexer.l b/dtc-lexer.l
index 5568b4a..de60a70 100644
--- a/dtc-lexer.l
+++ b/dtc-lexer.l
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@
 			return DT_LABEL_REF;
 		}
 
-<*>"&{/"{PATHCHAR}*\}	{	/* new-style path reference */
+<*>"&{"{PATHCHAR}*\}	{	/* new-style path reference */
 			yytext[yyleng-1] = '\0';
 			DPRINT("Ref: %s\n", yytext+2);
 			yylval.labelref = xstrdup(yytext+2);
diff --git a/dtc-parser.y b/dtc-parser.y
index a0316a3..46457d4 100644
--- a/dtc-parser.y
+++ b/dtc-parser.y
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@
 
 extern struct dt_info *parser_output;
 extern bool treesource_error;
+
+static bool is_ref_relative(const char *ref)
+{
+	return ref[0] != '/' && strchr(&ref[1], '/');
+}
+
 %}
 
 %union {
@@ -169,6 +175,8 @@
 			 */
 			if (!($<flags>-1 & DTSF_PLUGIN))
 				ERROR(&@2, "Label or path %s not found", $1);
+			else if (is_ref_relative($1))
+				ERROR(&@2, "Label-relative reference %s not supported in plugin", $1);
 			$$ = add_orphan_node(
 					name_node(build_node(NULL, NULL, NULL),
 						  ""),
@@ -178,6 +186,9 @@
 		{
 			struct node *target = get_node_by_ref($1, $3);
 
+			if (($<flags>-1 & DTSF_PLUGIN) && is_ref_relative($3))
+				ERROR(&@2, "Label-relative reference %s not supported in plugin", $3);
+
 			if (target) {
 				add_label(&target->labels, $2);
 				merge_nodes(target, $4);
@@ -193,6 +204,8 @@
 			 * so $-1 is what we want (plugindecl)
 			 */
 			if ($<flags>-1 & DTSF_PLUGIN) {
+				if (is_ref_relative($2))
+					ERROR(&@2, "Label-relative reference %s not supported in plugin", $2);
 				add_orphan_node($1, $3, $2);
 			} else {
 				struct node *target = get_node_by_ref($1, $2);
diff --git a/livetree.c b/livetree.c
index cc61237..169462d 100644
--- a/livetree.c
+++ b/livetree.c
@@ -581,12 +581,39 @@
 
 struct node *get_node_by_ref(struct node *tree, const char *ref)
 {
+	struct node *target = tree;
+	const char *label = NULL, *path = NULL;
+
 	if (streq(ref, "/"))
 		return tree;
-	else if (ref[0] == '/')
-		return get_node_by_path(tree, ref);
+
+	if (ref[0] == '/')
+		path = ref;
 	else
-		return get_node_by_label(tree, ref);
+		label = ref;
+
+	if (label) {
+		const char *slash = strchr(label, '/');
+		char *buf = NULL;
+
+		if (slash) {
+			buf = xstrndup(label, slash - label);
+			label = buf;
+			path = slash + 1;
+		}
+
+		target = get_node_by_label(tree, label);
+
+		free(buf);
+
+		if (!target)
+			return NULL;
+	}
+
+	if (path)
+		target = get_node_by_path(target, path);
+
+	return target;
 }
 
 cell_t get_node_phandle(struct node *root, struct node *node)