[393] _Laws of the Com._ (1822), VI, 288; PEPPER AND LEWIS, _Digest_, I, 1634. But when marriages within such degrees "shall not have been dissolved during the lifetime of the parties, the unlawfulness of the same shall not be enquired into after the death of either husband or wife."
[394] By the act of April 13, 1843: _Laws_ (1843), 233; PEPPER AND LEWIS, _Digest_, I, 1636, "where the wife is lunatic or _non compos mentis_" a petition for divorce may be "exhibited by any relative or next friend" who shall make the affidavit provided for in other cases of divorce.
[395] Act of May 8: _Laws_ (1854), 644; PEPPER AND LEWIS, _Digest_ (1896), I, 1635. When divorce is granted the husband for the tenth cause, the wife may be allowed alimony according to his circumstances.
By an act of March 9, 1855 (_Pub. Laws_, 68; PEPPER AND LEWIS, _Digest_, I, 1636), the courts of common pleas are given jurisdiction in all cases of divorce "from the bonds of matrimony for the cause of personal abuse, or for such conduct on the part of either the husband or the wife as to render the condition of the other party intolerable and life burdensome, notwithstanding the parties were at the time of the occurring of said causes domiciled in another state;" but the applicant must be a citizen and have been a resident of the state for one year. This act, according to judicial interpretation, does not establish new causes for divorce, but only enlarges the jurisdiction of the court in reference to the parties under causes already recognized: Schlichter _v._ Schlichter, 10 _Phila. Reports_, 11 (1873). Cruel and barbarous treatment must be alleged in the libel: Pennington _v._ Pennington, _ibid._, 22.
[396] _Laws of Pa._ (1903), 19; repealing the act of June 1, 1891: _ibid._ (1891), 142.
On the other hand, the century has produced but one change in the special grounds of partial divorce. Petitions for separation from bed and board are still allowed only in favor of the wife. The four causes sanctioned in 1785, re-enacted in 1815 and 1817, are yet in force;[397] while, since 1862, adultery on the part of the husband is admitted as a fifth ground of complaint.[398]
[397] PEPPER AND LEWIS, _Digest_ (1896), I, 1687. _Cf._ the act of March 13, 1815: _Laws of the Com._ (1822), VI, 286; and _Laws_ (1817), 405.