Ok got it working like a charm using "proxy pattern" with traits. The idea being declaring the common methods inside a "trait" in order for extended and registered Node Classes to have access even if not derived / child of the extended DOMNode…Here a small snippet :<?php namespace my; trait tNode { public function __get($name) { if(property_exists($this, $name)){return $this->$name;} if(method_exists($this, $name)){return $this->$name();} throw new \ErrorException('my\\Node property \''.(string) $name.'\' not found…', 42, E_USER_WARNING); } private function parentElement() { if($this->parentNode === null){return null;} if($this->parentNode->nodeType === XML_ELEMENT_NODE){return $this->parentNode;} return $this->parentNode->parentElement(); } public function isEqualNode(\DOMNode $node){return $this->isSameNode($node);} public function compareDocumentPosition(\DOMNode $otherNode) { if($this->ownerDocument !== $otherNode->ownerDocument){return DOCUMENT_POSITION_DISCONNECTED;} $c = strcmp($this->getNodePath(), $otherNode->getNodePath()); if($c === 0){return 0;} else if($c < 0){return DOCUMENT_POSITION_FOLLOWING | ($c < -1 ? DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINED_BY : 0);} return DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING | ($c > 1 ? DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINS : 0); } public function contains(\DOMNode $otherNode){return ($this->compareDocumentPosition($otherNode) >= DOCUMENT_POSITION_CONTAINED_BY);} } class Document extends \DomDocument { public function __construct($version=null, $encoding=null) { parent::__construct($version, $encoding); $this->registerNodeClass('DOMNode', 'my\Node'); $this->registerNodeClass('DOMElement', 'my\Element'); $this->registerNodeClass('DOMDocument', 'my\Document'); } } class Element extends \DOMElement { use tNode; } class Node extends \DOMNode { use tNode; }?>