diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 296fc04..4bbb9be 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## Version 0.9.0 (unreleased)
 
+**Breaking Changes**
+
+- `CompoundJSONPath` instances are no longer updated in-place when using `.union()` and `.intersection()`. Instead, a new `CompoundJSONPath` is returned. `CompoundJSONPath.paths` is now a tuple instead of a list.
+
 **Fixes**
 
 - Fixed a bug with the parsing of JSON Pointers. When given an arbitrary string without slashes, `JSONPointer` would resolve to the document root. The empty string is the only valid pointer that should resolve to the document root. We now raise a `JSONPointerError` in such cases. See [#27](https://github.com/jg-rp/python-jsonpath/issues/27).
diff --git a/jsonpath/env.py b/jsonpath/env.py
index 7b38360..3937f74 100644
--- a/jsonpath/env.py
+++ b/jsonpath/env.py
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ def compile(self, path: str) -> Union[JSONPath, CompoundJSONPath]:  # noqa: A003
 
                 if stream.current.kind == TOKEN_UNION:
                     stream.next_token()
-                    _path.union(
+                    _path = _path.union(
                         JSONPath(
                             env=self,
                             selectors=self.parser.parse(stream),
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ def compile(self, path: str) -> Union[JSONPath, CompoundJSONPath]:  # noqa: A003
                     )
                 elif stream.current.kind == TOKEN_INTERSECTION:
                     stream.next_token()
-                    _path.intersection(
+                    _path = _path.intersection(
                         JSONPath(
                             env=self,
                             selectors=self.parser.parse(stream),
diff --git a/jsonpath/path.py b/jsonpath/path.py
index 3deb634..08f45ac 100644
--- a/jsonpath/path.py
+++ b/jsonpath/path.py
@@ -223,10 +223,11 @@ def __init__(
         *,
         env: JSONPathEnvironment,
         path: Union[JSONPath, CompoundJSONPath],
+        paths: Iterable[Tuple[str, JSONPath]] = (),
     ) -> None:
         self.env = env
         self.path = path
-        self.paths: List[Tuple[(str, JSONPath)]] = []
+        self.paths = tuple(paths)
 
     def __str__(self) -> str:
         buf: List[str] = [str(self.path)]
@@ -381,14 +382,20 @@ async def finditer_async(
         return matches
 
     def union(self, path: JSONPath) -> CompoundJSONPath:
-        """In-place union of this path and another path."""
-        self.paths.append((self.env.union_token, path))
-        return self
+        """Union of this path and another path."""
+        return self.__class__(
+            env=self.env,
+            path=self.path,
+            paths=self.paths + ((self.env.union_token, path),),
+        )
 
     def intersection(self, path: JSONPath) -> CompoundJSONPath:
-        """In-place intersection of this path and another path."""
-        self.paths.append((self.env.intersection_token, path))
-        return self
+        """Intersection of this path and another path."""
+        return self.__class__(
+            env=self.env,
+            path=self.path,
+            paths=self.paths + ((self.env.intersection_token, path),),
+        )
 
 
 T = TypeVar("T")