[11] Act of Feb. 18, 1829: _Laws of the Com. of Mass., 1828-31_ (1831), 83, 84. [12] The causes of divorce _a mensa et thoro_ remain unaltered in _Rev. Stat. of the Com. of Mass., 1835_ (1836), 480. [13] _Supp. to Gen. Stat. of the Com. of Mass., 1860-72_, I (2d ed., Boston, 1873), 871 (act of June 23, 1870). Chief interest, therefore, centers in the history of divorce from the bond of wedlock. To the two grounds of dissolution originally permitted new causes were added from time to time. Thus in 1835 the confinement of either spouse at hard labor under penal sentence for a period of seven years or more is declared sufficient for such a divorce; and a pardon granted to the guilty person will not work a restoration of conjugal rights.[14] Utter and wilful desertion for a term of five years came next in 1838;[15] and in 1850 a fifth cause, probably relating to the Shakers, was added. If either partner, it is declared, shall leave the other without consent and join a "religious sect or society that believes, or professes to believe, the relation between husband and wife void or unlawful," and there remain for three years, such act shall be deemed in behalf of the injured person a "sufficient cause of divorce from the bond of matrimony."[16] [14] _Rev. Stat._ (1836), 480. Impotency is also sanctioned; but this was already allowed by the act of 1786. [15] Act of April 17, 1838: _Laws of the Com. of Mass._ (1838), 415. [16] Act of March 20, 1850: _Supp. to Rev. Stat., 1836-53_, I, 592.