diff --git a/peachjam/admin.py b/peachjam/admin.py
index cd41d818c..95f68fef6 100644
--- a/peachjam/admin.py
+++ b/peachjam/admin.py
@@ -179,6 +179,9 @@ class PeachJamSettingsAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
         "document_jurisdictions",
     )
 
+    def has_add_permission(self, request):
+        return False
+
     def changelist_view(self, request, extra_context=None):
         # redirect to edit the singleton
         return redirect("admin:peachjam_peachjamsettings_change", pj_settings().pk)
@@ -844,7 +847,9 @@ def fixup(item):
 
 @admin.register(CoreDocument)
 class CoreDocumentAdmin(DocumentAdmin):
-    pass
+    def has_add_permission(self, request):
+        # this is prevented because there is no view that handles a CoreDocument
+        return False
 
 
 @admin.register(GenericDocument)
diff --git a/peachjam/views/documents.py b/peachjam/views/documents.py
index 4c85bfaff..343c179de 100644
--- a/peachjam/views/documents.py
+++ b/peachjam/views/documents.py
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ def dispatch(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
 
             return view.dispatch(request, *args, **kwargs)
 
+        raise Exception(
+            f"The document type {obj.doc_type} does not have a view registered."
+        )
+
 
 @method_decorator(add_slash_to_frbr_uri(), name="setup")
 class DocumentSourceView(DetailView):