unreachable catch blocks are not detected

The following compiles without error in both 1.2 and 1.3-L.
According to JLS 14.19, the catch blocks are unreachable.

public class Bug {

    void test() {

int state = 0;
try {
// empty try cannot generate Exceptions !
}
catch (ArithmeticException e) {
state = 1;
}
catch (Exception e) {
state = 2;
}
    }
}