diff --git a/lib/liquid/parse_tree_visitor.rb b/lib/liquid/parse_tree_visitor.rb
index c9c6646e1..6d23b2c50 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/parse_tree_visitor.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/parse_tree_visitor.rb
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def visit(context = nil)
     protected
 
     def children
-      @node.respond_to?(:nodelist) ? Array(@node.nodelist) : []
+      @node.respond_to?(:nodelist) ? Array(@node.nodelist) : Const::EMPTY_ARRAY
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/liquid/variable.rb b/lib/liquid/variable.rb
index 1a4c07198..372ee4dbf 100644
--- a/lib/liquid/variable.rb
+++ b/lib/liquid/variable.rb
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def strict_parse(markup)
       @name = parse_context.parse_expression(p.expression)
       while p.consume?(:pipe)
         filtername = p.consume(:id)
-        filterargs = p.consume?(:colon) ? parse_filterargs(p) : []
+        filterargs = p.consume?(:colon) ? parse_filterargs(p) : Const::EMPTY_ARRAY
         @filters << parse_filter_expressions(filtername, filterargs)
       end
       p.consume(:end_of_string)