diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index 1897e1d..5ef9aa9 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ A Swift library for UI automation of apps and browsers via communication with [W
 A `swift-webdriver` "Hello world" using `WinAppDriver` might look like this:
 
 ```swift
-let session = Session(
+let session = try Session(
     webDriver: WinAppDriver.start(), // Requires WinAppDriver to be installed on the machine
     desiredCapabilities: WinAppDriver.Capabilities.startApp(name: "notepad.exe"))
-session.findElement(locator: .name("close"))?.click()
+try session.requireElement(locator: .name("close")).click()
 ```
 
 To use `swift-webdriver` in your project, add a reference to it in your `Package.swift` file as follows:
diff --git a/Sources/WebDriver/Element.swift b/Sources/WebDriver/Element.swift
index 05205e5..28c4cf5 100644
--- a/Sources/WebDriver/Element.swift
+++ b/Sources/WebDriver/Element.swift
@@ -98,6 +98,16 @@ public struct Element {
         try session.findElements(startingAt: self, locator: locator, waitTimeout: waitTimeout)
     }
 
+    /// Finds an element using a given locator, starting from this element, and throwing upon failure.
+    /// - Parameter locator: The locator strategy to use.
+    /// - Parameter description: A human-readable description of the element, included in thrown errors.
+    /// - Parameter waitTimeout: The amount of time to wait for element existence. Overrides the implicit wait timeout.
+    /// - Returns: The element that was found.
+    @discardableResult // for use as an assertion
+    public func requireElement(locator: ElementLocator, description: String? = nil, waitTimeout: TimeInterval? = nil) throws -> Element {
+        try session.requireElement(startingAt: self, locator: locator, description: description, waitTimeout: waitTimeout)
+    }
+
     /// Gets an attribute of this element.
     /// - Parameter name: the attribute name.
     /// - Returns: the attribute value string.
diff --git a/Sources/WebDriver/ElementNotFoundError.swift b/Sources/WebDriver/ElementNotFoundError.swift
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c561f5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Sources/WebDriver/ElementNotFoundError.swift
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+public struct ElementNotFoundError: Error {
+    /// The locator that was used to search for the element.
+    public var locator: ElementLocator
+
+    /// A human-readable description of the element.
+    public var description: String?
+
+    /// The error that caused the element to not be found.
+    public var sourceError: Error
+
+    public init(locator: ElementLocator, description: String? = nil, sourceError: Error) {
+        self.locator = locator
+        self.description = description
+        self.sourceError = sourceError
+    }
+
+    /// The error response returned by the WebDriver server, if this was the source of the failure.
+    public var errorResponse: ErrorResponse? { sourceError as? ErrorResponse }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Sources/WebDriver/ErrorResponse.swift b/Sources/WebDriver/ErrorResponse.swift
index 8d24380..7db02c5 100644
--- a/Sources/WebDriver/ErrorResponse.swift
+++ b/Sources/WebDriver/ErrorResponse.swift
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ public struct ErrorResponse: Codable, Error {
     }
 
     public struct Value: Codable {
-        public var error: String
+        public var error: String?
         public var message: String
         public var stacktrace: String?
     }
diff --git a/Sources/WebDriver/Session.swift b/Sources/WebDriver/Session.swift
index 621504f..3c1852a 100644
--- a/Sources/WebDriver/Session.swift
+++ b/Sources/WebDriver/Session.swift
@@ -153,6 +153,32 @@ public class Session {
         try findElements(startingAt: nil, locator: locator, waitTimeout: waitTimeout)
     }
 
+    /// Finds an element using a given locator, starting from the session root, and throwing upon failure.
+    /// - Parameter locator: The locator strategy to use.
+    /// - Parameter description: A human-readable description of the element, included in thrown errors.
+    /// - Parameter waitTimeout: The amount of time to wait for element existence. Overrides the implicit wait timeout.
+    /// - Returns: The element that was found.
+    @discardableResult // for use as an assertion
+    public func requireElement(locator: ElementLocator, description: String? = nil, waitTimeout: TimeInterval? = nil) throws -> Element {
+        try requireElement(startingAt: nil, locator: locator, description: description, waitTimeout: waitTimeout)
+    }
+
+    internal func requireElement(startingAt subtreeRoot: Element?, locator: ElementLocator, description: String? = nil, waitTimeout: TimeInterval? = nil) throws -> Element {
+        let element: Element?
+        do {
+            element = try findElement(startingAt: subtreeRoot, locator: locator, waitTimeout: waitTimeout)
+        } catch let error {
+            throw ElementNotFoundError(locator: locator, description: description, sourceError: error)
+        }
+
+        guard let element else {
+            let synthesizedResponse = ErrorResponse(status: .noSuchElement, value: .init(message: "Element not found"))
+            throw ElementNotFoundError(locator: locator, description: description, sourceError: synthesizedResponse)
+        }
+
+        return element
+    }
+
     /// Overrides the implicit wait timeout during a block of code.
     private func withImplicitWaitTimeout<Result>(_ value: TimeInterval?, _ block: () throws -> Result) rethrows -> Result {
         if let value, value != _implicitWaitTimeout {
@@ -167,11 +193,11 @@ public class Session {
     }
 
     /// Common logic for `Session.findElement` and `Element.findElement`.
-    internal func findElement(startingAt element: Element?, locator: ElementLocator, waitTimeout: TimeInterval?) throws -> Element? {
-        precondition(element == nil || element?.session === self)
+    internal func findElement(startingAt subtreeRoot: Element?, locator: ElementLocator, waitTimeout: TimeInterval?) throws -> Element? {
+        precondition(subtreeRoot == nil || subtreeRoot?.session === self)
 
         return try withImplicitWaitTimeout(waitTimeout) {
-            let request = Requests.SessionElement(session: id, element: element?.id, locator: locator)
+            let request = Requests.SessionElement(session: id, element: subtreeRoot?.id, locator: locator)
 
             let elementId = try poll(timeout: emulateImplicitWait ? (waitTimeout ?? _implicitWaitTimeout) : TimeInterval.zero) {
                 let elementId: String?
diff --git a/Tests/UnitTests/APIToRequestMappingTests.swift b/Tests/UnitTests/APIToRequestMappingTests.swift
index 65d0384..3349fc2 100644
--- a/Tests/UnitTests/APIToRequestMappingTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/UnitTests/APIToRequestMappingTests.swift
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class APIToRequestMappingTests: XCTestCase {
             XCTAssertEqual($0.value, "myElement.name")
             return ResponseWithValue(.init(element: "myElement"))
         }
-        XCTAssertNotNil(try session.findElement(locator: .name("myElement.name")))
+        try session.requireElement(locator: .name("myElement.name"))
 
         mockWebDriver.expect(path: "session/mySession/element/active", method: .post, type: Requests.SessionActiveElement.self) {
             ResponseWithValue(.init(element: "myElement"))
diff --git a/Tests/WinAppDriverTests/MSInfo32App.swift b/Tests/WinAppDriverTests/MSInfo32App.swift
index 00e1a98..0a4bf5d 100644
--- a/Tests/WinAppDriverTests/MSInfo32App.swift
+++ b/Tests/WinAppDriverTests/MSInfo32App.swift
@@ -13,28 +13,28 @@ class MSInfo32App {
     }
 
     private lazy var _maximizeButton = Result {
-        try XCTUnwrap(session.findElement(locator: .name("Maximize")), "Maximize button not found")
+        try session.requireElement(locator: .name("Maximize"), description: "Maximize window button")
     }
     var maximizeButton: Element {
         get throws { try _maximizeButton.get() }
     }
 
     private lazy var _systemSummaryTree = Result {
-        try XCTUnwrap(session.findElement(locator: .accessibilityId("201")), "System summary tree control not found")
+        try session.requireElement(locator: .accessibilityId("201"), description: "System summary tree control")
     }
     var systemSummaryTree: Element {
         get throws { try _systemSummaryTree.get() }
     }
 
     private lazy var _findWhatEditBox = Result {
-        try XCTUnwrap(session.findElement(locator: .accessibilityId("204")), "'Find what' edit box not found")
+        try session.requireElement(locator: .accessibilityId("204"), description: "'Find what' edit box")
     }
     var findWhatEditBox: Element {
         get throws { try _findWhatEditBox.get() }
     }
 
     private lazy var _searchSelectedCategoryOnlyCheckbox = Result {
-        try XCTUnwrap(session.findElement(locator: .accessibilityId("206")), "'Search selected category only' checkbox not found")
+        try session.requireElement(locator: .accessibilityId("206"), description: "'Search selected category only' checkbox")
     }
     var searchSelectedCategoryOnlyCheckbox: Element {
         get throws { try _searchSelectedCategoryOnlyCheckbox.get() }