diff --git a/LICENSE.md b/LICENSE.md
index 3d315105d038e..0d5d98311766c 100644
--- a/LICENSE.md
+++ b/LICENSE.md
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ Julia includes code from the following projects, which have their own licenses:
 - [MUSL](https://git.musl-libc.org/cgit/musl/tree/COPYRIGHT) (for getopt implementation on Windows) [MIT]
 - [MINGW](https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw/mingw-org-wsl/ci/legacy/tree/mingwrt/mingwex/dirname.c) (for dirname implementation on Windows) [MIT]
 - [NetBSD](https://www.netbsd.org/about/redistribution.html) (for setjmp, longjmp, and strptime implementations on Windows) [BSD-3]
-- [Python](https://docs.python.org/2/license.html) (for strtod implementation on Windows) [BSD-3, effectively]
+- [Python](https://docs.python.org/2/license.html) (for strtod and joinpath implementation on Windows) [BSD-3, effectively]
 
 The following components included in Julia `Base` have their own separate licenses:
 
diff --git a/base/path.jl b/base/path.jl
index 234519818075a..8fcc25cb1e5b7 100644
--- a/base/path.jl
+++ b/base/path.jl
@@ -198,14 +198,6 @@ function splitext(path::String)
     a*m.captures[1], String(m.captures[2])
 end
 
-function pathsep(paths::AbstractString...)
-    for path in paths
-        m = match(path_separator_re, String(path))
-        m !== nothing && return m.match[1:1]
-    end
-    return path_separator
-end
-
 """
     splitpath(path::AbstractString) -> Vector{String}
 
@@ -246,8 +238,69 @@ function splitpath(p::String)
     return out
 end
 
+joinpath(path::AbstractString) = String(path)
+
+if Sys.iswindows()
+
+function joinpath(path::AbstractString, paths::AbstractString...)
+    result_drive, result_path = splitdrive(path)
+
+    local p_drive, p_path
+    for p in paths
+        p_drive, p_path = splitdrive(p)
+
+        if startswith(p_path, ('\\', '/'))
+            # second path is absolute
+            if !isempty(p_drive) || !isempty(result_drive)
+                result_drive = p_drive
+            end
+            result_path = p_path
+            continue
+        elseif !isempty(p_drive) && p_drive != result_drive
+            if lowercase(p_drive) != lowercase(result_drive)
+                # different drives, ignore the first path entirely
+                result_drive = p_drive
+                result_path = p_path
+                continue
+            end
+            result_drive = p_drive # same drive in different case
+        end
+
+        # second path is relative to the first
+        if !isempty(result_path) && result_path[end] ∉ ('\\', '/')
+            result_path *= "\\"
+        end
+
+        result_path = result_path * p_path
+    end
+
+    # add separator between UNC and non-absolute path
+    if !isempty(p_path) && result_path[1] ∉ ('\\', '/') && !isempty(result_drive) && result_drive[end] != ':'
+        return result_drive * "\\" * result_path
+    end
+
+    return result_drive * result_path
+end
+
+else
+
+function joinpath(path::AbstractString, paths::AbstractString...)
+    for p in paths
+        if isabspath(p)
+            path = p
+        elseif isempty(path) || path[end] == '/'
+            path *= p
+        else
+            path *= "/" * p
+        end
+    end
+    return path
+end
+
+end # os-test
+
 """
-    joinpath(parts...) -> AbstractString
+    joinpath(parts::AbstractString...) -> String
 
 Join path components into a full path. If some argument is an absolute path or
 (on Windows) has a drive specification that doesn't match the drive computed for
@@ -259,20 +312,7 @@ julia> joinpath("/home/myuser", "example.jl")
 "/home/myuser/example.jl"
 ```
 """
-joinpath(a::AbstractString, b::AbstractString, c::AbstractString...) = joinpath(joinpath(a,b), c...)
-joinpath(a::AbstractString) = a
-
-function joinpath(a::String, b::String)
-    isabspath(b) && return b
-    A, a = splitdrive(a)
-    B, b = splitdrive(b)
-    !isempty(B) && A != B && return string(B,b)
-    C = isempty(B) ? A : B
-    isempty(a)                              ? string(C,b) :
-    occursin(path_separator_re, a[end:end]) ? string(C,a,b) :
-                                              string(C,a,pathsep(a,b),b)
-end
-joinpath(a::AbstractString, b::AbstractString) = joinpath(String(a), String(b))
+joinpath
 
 """
     normpath(path::AbstractString) -> AbstractString
diff --git a/test/path.jl b/test/path.jl
index b61535a4031a9..0ac50e926e918 100644
--- a/test/path.jl
+++ b/test/path.jl
@@ -31,8 +31,14 @@
         @test isdirpath(S(".."))
     end
     @testset "joinpath" begin
+        @test joinpath(S("")) == ""
         @test joinpath(S("foo")) == "foo"
         @test joinpath(S("foo"), S("bar")) == "foo$(sep)bar"
+        @test joinpath(S("foo"), S("bar"), S("baz")) == "foo$(sep)bar$(sep)baz"
+        @test joinpath(S("foo"), S(""), S("baz")) == "foo$(sep)baz"
+        @test joinpath(S("foo"), S(""), S("")) == "foo$(sep)"
+        @test joinpath(S("foo"), S(""), S(""), S("bar")) == "foo$(sep)bar"
+
         @test joinpath(S("foo"), S(homedir())) == homedir()
         @test joinpath(S(abspath("foo")), S(homedir())) == homedir()
 
@@ -40,6 +46,18 @@
             @test joinpath(S("foo"),S("bar:baz")) == "bar:baz"
             @test joinpath(S("C:"),S("foo"),S("D:"),S("bar")) == "D:bar"
             @test joinpath(S("C:"),S("foo"),S("D:bar"),S("baz")) == "D:bar$(sep)baz"
+
+            # relative folders and case-insensitive drive letters
+            @test joinpath(S("C:\\a\\b"), S("c:c\\e")) == "c:\\a\\b\\c\\e"
+
+            # UNC paths
+            @test joinpath(S("\\\\server"), S("share")) == "\\\\server\\share"
+            @test joinpath(S("\\\\server"), S("share"), S("a")) == "\\\\server\\share\\a"
+            @test joinpath(S("\\\\server\\"), S("share"), S("a")) == "\\\\server\\share\\a"
+            @test joinpath(S("\\\\server"), S("share"), S("a"), S("b")) == "\\\\server\\share\\a\\b"
+            @test joinpath(S("\\\\server\\share"),S("a")) == "\\\\server\\share\\a"
+            @test joinpath(S("\\\\server\\share\\"), S("a")) == "\\\\server\\share\\a"
+
         elseif Sys.isunix()
             @test joinpath(S("foo"),S("bar:baz")) == "foo$(sep)bar:baz"
             @test joinpath(S("C:"),S("foo"),S("D:"),S("bar")) == "C:$(sep)foo$(sep)D:$(sep)bar"