[406] CHASE, _Stat._, I, 192, 193 (act of July 15, 1795).
[408] Act of Jan. 11, 1822: CHASE, _Stat._, II, 1210, 1211.
[409] Act of Jan. 7, 1824: CHASE, _Stat._, II, 1408, 1409.
[410] Act of Feb. 22, 1833: CHASE, _Stat._, III, 1934.
Thus matters stood until 1853, when a measure appeared by which the law was much relaxed in several important respects. Jurisdiction, which since 1804 had remained solely in the supreme tribunal of the state, was now vested in the several courts of common pleas. In addition to the six grounds for full divorce already created, four new causes were recognized. These were (7) fraudulent contract; (8) gross neglect of duty; (9) habitual drunkenness for three years; and (10) a decree of divorce in another state "by virtue of which the party who shall have obtained such decree shall have been released from the obligations of the marriage contract, while the same remains binding upon the other."[411]
[411] Act of March 11, 1853: SWAN, _Stat. of Ohio_ (1854), 324-28. But the provision regarding sentence and imprisonment is differently worded. At present (BATES, _Ann. Rev. Stat._ (1900), II, 2948) the paragraph reads: "The imprisonment of either party in a penitentiary under sentence thereto; but the petition for divorce under this clause shall be filed during the imprisonment of the adverse party."
These ten causes of absolute divorce are still sanctioned by Ohio law. No provision is made for limited divorce; but there is an "action for alimony, which is in effect a limited divorce, and which may be brought by the wife for any of the following causes," also sanctioned by the act of 1853: (1) adultery; (2) any gross neglect of duty; (3) abandonment without good cause; (4) separation in consequence of the husband's ill-treatment, whether the wife is maintained by him or not; (5) habitual drunkenness; and (6) sentence to imprisonment in a penitentiary, if application be made while the husband is so confined.[412]
[412] For the present law of Ohio see BATES, _Ann. Rev. Stat._ (1897), II, 2804-10. _Cf._ WRIGHT, _Report_, 106. Jurisdiction is still vested in the courts of common pleas, although in certain counties the probate courts have cognizance: BATES, _op. cit._, II, 2804.