diff --git a/Lib/unittest/__init__.py b/Lib/unittest/__init__.py
--- a/Lib/unittest/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/__init__.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
 __all__ = ['TestResult', 'TestCase', 'TestSuite',
            'TextTestRunner', 'TestLoader', 'FunctionTestCase', 'main',
            'defaultTestLoader', 'SkipTest', 'skip', 'skipIf', 'skipUnless',
-           'expectedFailure', 'TextTestResult', 'installHandler',
+           'expectedFailure', 'testBaseClass', 'TextTestResult', 'installHandler',
            'registerResult', 'removeResult', 'removeHandler']
 
 # Expose obsolete functions for backwards compatibility
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
 
 from .result import TestResult
 from .case import (TestCase, FunctionTestCase, SkipTest, skip, skipIf,
-                   skipUnless, expectedFailure)
+                   skipUnless, expectedFailure, testBaseClass)
 from .suite import BaseTestSuite, TestSuite
 from .loader import (TestLoader, defaultTestLoader, makeSuite, getTestCaseNames,
                      findTestCases)
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/case.py b/Lib/unittest/case.py
--- a/Lib/unittest/case.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/case.py
@@ -120,6 +120,12 @@
     return test_item
 
 
+def testBaseClass(base_class):
+    base_class.__testbase__ = True
+    return base_class
+
+
+
 class _BaseTestCaseContext:
 
     def __init__(self, test_case):
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/loader.py b/Lib/unittest/loader.py
--- a/Lib/unittest/loader.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/loader.py
@@ -47,7 +47,6 @@
         return path[:-9]
     return os.path.splitext(path)[0]
 
-
 class TestLoader(object):
     """
     This class is responsible for loading tests according to various criteria
@@ -60,10 +59,14 @@
 
     def loadTestsFromTestCase(self, testCaseClass):
         """Return a suite of all tests cases contained in testCaseClass"""
+
         if issubclass(testCaseClass, suite.TestSuite):
             raise TypeError("Test cases should not be derived from "
                             "TestSuite. Maybe you meant to derive from "
                             "TestCase?")
+        if testCaseClass.__dict__.get('__testbase__', False):
+            raise TypeError("Base test class should not be run.")
+
         testCaseNames = self.getTestCaseNames(testCaseClass)
         if not testCaseNames and hasattr(testCaseClass, 'runTest'):
             testCaseNames = ['runTest']
@@ -75,7 +78,8 @@
         tests = []
         for name in dir(module):
             obj = getattr(module, name)
-            if isinstance(obj, type) and issubclass(obj, case.TestCase):
+
+            if isinstance(obj, type) and issubclass(obj, case.TestCase) and not obj.__dict__.get('__testbase__', False):
                 tests.append(self.loadTestsFromTestCase(obj))
 
         load_tests = getattr(module, 'load_tests', None)
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py b/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py
--- a/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py
+++ b/Lib/unittest/test/test_case.py
@@ -1569,6 +1569,17 @@
             testcase.run()
             self.assertEqual(MyException.ninstance, 0)
 
+    def test_base_class_should_not_run(self):
+        # Issue #14534: Add method to mark unittest.TestCases as "do not run"
+        import unittest.test.testmock.baseclassdecorator
+
+        result = unittest.TestResult()
+        
+        loader = unittest.TestLoader() 
+        suite = loader.loadTestsFromModule(unittest.test.testmock.baseclassdecorator)
+
+        suite.run(result)
+        self.assertEqual(result.testsRun, 1)
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/Lib/unittest/test/testmock/baseclassdecorator.py b/Lib/unittest/test/testmock/baseclassdecorator.py
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/unittest/test/testmock/baseclassdecorator.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import unittest
+
+@unittest.testBaseClass
+class TestBaseDecoratorBase(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.is_base_class = True
+            
+    def test_base_class_should_not_run(self):
+        """
+        This test will fail if run by the base class but will pass
+        if run by the child class.
+        """
+        self.assertFalse(self.is_base_class)
+        
+class TestBaseDecoratorChild(TestBaseDecoratorBase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.is_base_class = False
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()