diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/symboltable/AbstractScope.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/symboltable/AbstractScope.java
index fdda0be807..9839e9537e 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/symboltable/AbstractScope.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/symboltable/AbstractScope.java
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.symboltable;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractScope implements Scope {
         @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
         Map<T, List<NameOccurrence>> result = (Map<T, List<NameOccurrence>>)nameDeclarations.get(clazz);
         if (result == null) {
-            result = new LinkedHashMap<>();
+            result = Collections.emptyMap();
         }
         return result;
     }
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/ClassScope.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/ClassScope.java
index 114ec2adda..43e9c66f54 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/ClassScope.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/ClassScope.java
@@ -356,8 +356,9 @@ public class ClassScope extends AbstractJavaScope {
         }
 
         Set<String> qualifiedNames = new LinkedHashSet<>();
-        qualifiedNames.addAll(this.getEnclosingScope(SourceFileScope.class).getQualifiedTypeNames().keySet());
-        qualifiedNames.addAll(this.getEnclosingScope(SourceFileScope.class).getExplicitImports());
+        final SourceFileScope fileScope = getEnclosingScope(SourceFileScope.class);
+        qualifiedNames.addAll(fileScope.getQualifiedTypeNames().keySet());
+        qualifiedNames.addAll(fileScope.getExplicitImports());
 
         int nameLength = typeImage.length();
 
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/SourceFileScope.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/SourceFileScope.java
index d389369fc0..025ad41356 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/SourceFileScope.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/symboltable/SourceFileScope.java
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 package net.sourceforge.pmd.lang.java.symboltable;
 
 
-import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -52,7 +51,7 @@ public class SourceFileScope extends AbstractJavaScope {
     }
 
     public Set<String> getExplicitImports() {
-        return types != null ? types.getExplicitImports() : Collections.<String> emptySet();
+        return types.getExplicitImports();
     }
 
     /**