[333] _Code of Va._ (1887), 562; _cf._ _Code of W. Va._ (1900), 662.
[335] _Digest of Ark._ (1894), 681; _Ann. Stat. of Ind. Ter._ (1899), 326.
[336] Rev. _Civil Stat. of La._ (1888), 70-72; _ibid._ (1870), 19-21; _ibid._ (1897), 306.
Permanent alimony and the custody of the children after dissolution of marriage are generally provided for. Sometimes the wife is granted separate alimony without a decree of divorce, as in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma.[337] From an early period the North Carolina statutes have been conspicuous for the relief granted to the wife after divorce, or, under certain circumstances, without formal separation. Thus by the act of 1814 the court may grant a woman having a limited divorce for cruelty or abandonment such alimony as the husband's means will admit, not exceeding either one-third of his real or personal estate or a like share of the annual profits of his estate, occupation, or labor.[338] The deserted wife gains still further protection in 1816. "Whereas," declares an act of that year, "cases of great hardship often occur, the husband being at liberty to return and squander away the estate of the wife, subsequently obtained;" to remedy the evil it is therefore enacted that in future the decree of separation from bed and board shall have the effect of securing to the wife "any property which she may subsequently obtain, either by her own labor, gift, devise, or operation of law, unless the court shall in their judgment otherwise order."[339] Furthermore, in 1828-29 the courts were authorized to grant the wife separate alimony without divorce "whenever a man shall become an habitual drunkard or spendthrift, wasting his substance to the impoverishment of his family."[340] The present law is conceived in the spirit of these early enactments. In case of separation from bed and board, the amount of alimony is the same as in 1814. Separate maintenance without a divorce is still allowed. "When any husband shall separate himself from his wife and fail to provide her with the necessary subsistence according to his means and condition in life, or if he shall be a drunkard or spendthrift, the wife may apply for a special proceeding to the judge of the superior court for the county in which he resides, to have a reasonable subsistence secured to her and to the children of the marriage." Finally it may be noted that alimony may be decreed to the husband as well as the wife in Virginia and West Virginia.