Spring REST @ResponseStatus with Custom exception class does not change the return Status code

Throwing a @ResponseStatus annotated exception from a controller method should be enough for the framework to write the HTTP status code - no @ExceptionHandler necessary.

The following will write a 422 Status on hitting the webapp root as expected:

@Controller
public class ExceptionController {

    @RequestMapping("/")
    public void action() {
        throw new ActionException();
    }

    @ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY, reason = "nope")
    public static class ActionException extends RuntimeException {}
}

This works courtesy of the ResponseStatusExceptionResolver which is created by Spring MVC by default - if it's not working for you, my guess is that this default exception resolver has been removed (by e.g. overriding WebMvcConfigurationSupport.configureHandlerExceptionResolvers or otherwise configuring your context's HandlerExceptionResolvers so that the ResponseStatusExceptionResolver is trumped.)