diff --git a/rpc/client.go b/rpc/client.go
index b644a04c48..314612c1bb 100644
--- a/rpc/client.go
+++ b/rpc/client.go
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ func (c *Client) CallContext(ctx context.Context, result interface{}, method str
 	resp := batchresp[0]
 	switch {
 	case resp.Error != nil:
-		return resp.Error
+		return resp.jsonErr()
 	case len(resp.Result) == 0:
 		return ErrNoResult
 	default:
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ func (c *Client) BatchCallContext(ctx context.Context, b []BatchElem) error {
 		elem := &b[index]
 		switch {
 		case resp.Error != nil:
-			elem.Error = resp.Error
+			elem.Error = resp.jsonErr()
 		case resp.Result == nil:
 			elem.Error = ErrNoResult
 		default:
diff --git a/rpc/handler.go b/rpc/handler.go
index 12828b3350..1a1a31f920 100644
--- a/rpc/handler.go
+++ b/rpc/handler.go
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleBatch(msgs []*jsonrpcMessage) {
 			resp := h.handleCallMsg(cp, msg)
 			callBuffer.pushResponse(resp)
 			if resp != nil && h.batchResponseMaxSize != 0 {
-				responseBytes += len(resp.Result)
+				responseBytes += len(resp.Result) + len(resp.Error)
 				if responseBytes > h.batchResponseMaxSize {
 					err := &internalServerError{errcodeResponseTooLarge, errMsgResponseTooLarge}
 					callBuffer.respondWithError(cp.ctx, h.conn, err)
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleResponses(batch []*jsonrpcMessage, handleCall func(*json
 		// the op.resp channel.
 		if op.sub != nil {
 			if msg.Error != nil {
-				op.err = msg.Error
+				op.err = msg.jsonErr()
 			} else {
 				op.err = json.Unmarshal(msg.Result, &op.sub.subid)
 				if op.err == nil {
@@ -481,9 +481,10 @@ func (h *handler) handleCallMsg(ctx *callProc, msg *jsonrpcMessage) *jsonrpcMess
 		var logctx []any
 		logctx = append(logctx, "reqid", idForLog{msg.ID}, "duration", time.Since(start))
 		if resp.Error != nil {
-			logctx = append(logctx, "err", resp.Error.Message)
-			if resp.Error.Data != nil {
-				logctx = append(logctx, "errdata", formatErrorData(resp.Error.Data))
+			je := resp.jsonErr()
+			logctx = append(logctx, "err", je.Message)
+			if je.Data != nil {
+				logctx = append(logctx, "errdata", formatErrorData(je.Data))
 			}
 			h.log.Warn("Served "+msg.Method, logctx...)
 		} else {
@@ -550,7 +551,7 @@ func (h *handler) handleCall(cp *callProc, msg *jsonrpcMessage) *jsonrpcMessage
 	answer := h.runMethod(rctx, msg, callb, args)
 	var rErr error
 	if answer.Error != nil {
-		rErr = errors.New(answer.Error.Message)
+		rErr = errors.New(answer.jsonErr().Message)
 	}
 	rSpanEnd(&rErr)
 
@@ -623,7 +624,7 @@ func (h *handler) runMethod(ctx context.Context, msg *jsonrpcMessage, callb *cal
 	_, _, spanEnd := telemetry.StartSpanWithTracer(ctx, h.tracer(), "rpc.encodeJSONResponse", attributes...)
 	response := msg.response(result)
 	if response.Error != nil {
-		err = errors.New(response.Error.Message)
+		err = errors.New(response.jsonErr().Message)
 	}
 	spanEnd(&err)
 	return response
diff --git a/rpc/json.go b/rpc/json.go
index 863998c56a..e74aadc695 100644
--- a/rpc/json.go
+++ b/rpc/json.go
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ type jsonrpcMessage struct {
 	ID      json.RawMessage `json:"id,omitempty"`
 	Method  string          `json:"method,omitempty"`
 	Params  json.RawMessage `json:"params,omitempty"`
-	Error   *jsonError      `json:"error,omitempty"`
+	Error   json.RawMessage `json:"error,omitempty"`
 	Result  json.RawMessage `json:"result,omitempty"`
 }
 
@@ -108,6 +108,16 @@ func (msg *jsonrpcMessage) errorResponse(err error) *jsonrpcMessage {
 	return resp
 }
 
+// jsonErr decodes the Error field into a jsonError struct.
+func (msg *jsonrpcMessage) jsonErr() *jsonError {
+	if msg.Error == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+	je := new(jsonError)
+	json.Unmarshal(msg.Error, je)
+	return je
+}
+
 func (msg *jsonrpcMessage) response(result interface{}) *jsonrpcMessage {
 	var (
 		enc []byte
@@ -125,19 +135,18 @@ func (msg *jsonrpcMessage) response(result interface{}) *jsonrpcMessage {
 }
 
 func errorMessage(err error) *jsonrpcMessage {
-	msg := &jsonrpcMessage{Version: vsn, ID: null, Error: &jsonError{
+	je := &jsonError{
 		Code:    errcodeDefault,
 		Message: err.Error(),
-	}}
-	ec, ok := err.(Error)
-	if ok {
-		msg.Error.Code = ec.ErrorCode()
 	}
-	de, ok := err.(DataError)
-	if ok {
-		msg.Error.Data = de.ErrorData()
+	if ec, ok := err.(Error); ok {
+		je.Code = ec.ErrorCode()
 	}
-	return msg
+	if de, ok := err.(DataError); ok {
+		je.Data = de.ErrorData()
+	}
+	enc, _ := json.Marshal(je)
+	return &jsonrpcMessage{Version: vsn, ID: null, Error: enc}
 }
 
 type jsonError struct {
@@ -248,12 +257,8 @@ func writeMessage(w io.Writer, msg *jsonrpcMessage) error {
 		buf = append(buf, msg.Params...)
 	}
 	if msg.Error != nil {
-		errBytes, err := json.Marshal(msg.Error)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
 		buf = append(buf, `,"error":`...)
-		buf = append(buf, errBytes...)
+		buf = append(buf, msg.Error...)
 	}
 	if msg.Result != nil {
 		buf = append(buf, `,"result":`...)
diff --git a/rpc/subscription_test.go b/rpc/subscription_test.go
index 89b629f7c9..d1888c8a9a 100644
--- a/rpc/subscription_test.go
+++ b/rpc/subscription_test.go
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ func readAndValidateMessage(in *json.Decoder) (*subConfirmation, *subscriptionRe
 	case msg.isResponse():
 		var c subConfirmation
 		if msg.Error != nil {
-			return nil, nil, msg.Error
+			return nil, nil, msg.jsonErr()
 		} else if err := json.Unmarshal(msg.Result, &c.subid); err != nil {
 			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid response: %v", err)
 		} else {