diff --git a/include/mapnik/expression.hpp b/include/mapnik/expression.hpp
index 7a8751c02..a6bdadd1c 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/expression.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/expression.hpp
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 namespace mapnik
 {
 
-typedef boost::shared_ptr<const expr_node> expression_ptr;
+typedef boost::shared_ptr<expr_node> expression_ptr;
 
 
 MAPNIK_DECL expression_ptr parse_expression (std::string const& wkt, std::string const& encoding = "UTF8");
diff --git a/include/mapnik/parse_path.hpp b/include/mapnik/parse_path.hpp
index e89d9adfa..90b065ac9 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/parse_path.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/parse_path.hpp
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 
 namespace mapnik {
 
-typedef boost::shared_ptr<const path_expression> path_expression_ptr;
+typedef boost::shared_ptr<path_expression> path_expression_ptr;
 
 MAPNIK_DECL path_expression_ptr parse_path(std::string const & str);
 MAPNIK_DECL path_expression_ptr parse_path(std::string const & str,
diff --git a/src/expression.cpp b/src/expression.cpp
index 6cf9a4410..e30505c70 100644
--- a/src/expression.cpp
+++ b/src/expression.cpp
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ expression_ptr parse_expression(std::string const& str,
     bool r = boost::spirit::qi::phrase_parse(itr, end, g, boost::spirit::standard_wide::space, node);
     if (r && itr==end)
     {
-        return boost::make_shared<const expr_node>(node);
+        return boost::make_shared<expr_node>(node);
     }
     else
     {
diff --git a/src/parse_path.cpp b/src/parse_path.cpp
index 96e1a4687..4d815e795 100644
--- a/src/parse_path.cpp
+++ b/src/parse_path.cpp
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ path_expression_ptr parse_path(std::string const& str,
     bool r = qi::phrase_parse(itr, end, g, boost::spirit::standard_wide::space, path);
     if (r  && itr == end)
     {
-        return boost::make_shared<const path_expression>(path); //path;
+        return boost::make_shared<path_expression>(path); //path;
     }
     else
     {