[38] So in the _Acts and Laws of his Majesty's Colony of Conn._ (1750), 43; in _Acts and Laws_ (1784), 41; _ibid._ (1805), 457; the _Pub. Stat. Laws_ (1821), 178, 179; _ibid._ (1835), 162, 163; _ibid._ (1838), 185, 186; _Pub. Acts_ (1849), 17.
[40] Act of March 21, 1899: _Pub. Acts_, 996.
[41] _Pub. Acts_ (1843), 20; _Rev. Stat._ (1849), 274. For a construction of "intolerable cruelty" see Shaw _v._ Shaw, 17 _Conn. Reports_, 189.
[42] _Pub. Acts_ (1849), 17 (June 19). _Cf._ _Gen. Stat._ (1866), 305, 306, where the nine causes already existing in 1849 are enumerated; also _ibid._ (1875), 188.
[44] The eight causes already named appear in _Gen. Stat._ (1887), 612; and no later action seems to have been taken. _Cf._ _Gen. Stat._ (1902), 1090, 1091.
Throughout the century the supreme court of Rhode Island has exercised jurisdiction in cases of divorce and alimony,[45] although until 1851, as elsewhere explained, the legislature retained a share in this power. At the beginning of the period a marriage might be dissolved for (1) impotency, (2) adultery, (3) extreme cruelty, (4) wilful desertion for five years, (5) the husband's neglect or refusal to provide, or (6) for any other "gross misbehaviour and wickedness in either of the parties, repugnant to and in violation of the marriage covenant."[46] The last clause is surely broad enough, and no further ground of separation was found necessary until 1844. In that year (7) "continued drunkenness" is added.[47] Seven years later the court is given discretionary power to dispense with proof of full five years' desertion and to grant relief in less time.[48] Finally the extreme limit of modern legislation is reached in allowing (8) a decree when either spouse is guilty of "habitual, excessive, and intemperate use of opium, morphine, or chloral."[49] In 1902 the fifth cause in the above series was modified, a full divorce being then authorized for the husband's neglect _and_ refusal to provide his wife with necessaries for at least one year.[50] So the century, which began with six grounds, ends with but two new causes for the dissolution of wedlock. In the meantime, however, we have a rare example of reactionary legislation. In 1882 the policy of nearly two hundred and fifty years was reversed.[51] It was then provided that in future "divorce from bed, board, and cohabitation, until the parties be reconciled, may be granted for any of the causes for which by law a divorce from the bond of marriage may be decreed, and for such other causes as may seem to require the same."[52] This sweeping provision is still in force.[53]