diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/relation.rb
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ module ActiveRecord
     end
 
     def joins(join, join_type = nil)
-      return self if join.blank?
+      return create_new_relation if join.blank?
 
       join_relation = case join
       when String
Return a new relation when blank is supplied to relation.joins