Why does `x[0]` return a zero-length vector?

Say I have a vector, for example, x <- 1:10, then x[0] returns a zero-length vector of the same class as x, here integer(0).

I was wondering if there is a reason behind that choice, as opposed to throwing an error, or returning NA as x[11] would? Also, if you can think of a situation where having x[0] return integer(0) is useful, thank you for including it in your answer.