Note 395 — Chapter XVII · A CENTURY AND A QUARTER OF DIVORCE LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1776-1903 (continued 2)

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.