Yes, it was made on purpose. The else simplifies control flow analysis, and is equivalent, see the [Java Spec §11.3](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-11.html#jls-11.3)

> The control transfer that occurs when an exception is thrown causes abrupt completion of expressions (§15.6) and statements (§14.1) until a catch clause is encountered that can handle the exception; execution then continues by executing the block of that catch clause. The code that caused the exception is never resumed.