What is the canonical use for the "sys" and "adm" groups?

Since the beginning of time (or as long as I remember anyway) linux systems have had a "sys" and an "adm" group. What is the canonical use for them? Would it be appropriate to use either for a "super user" group? (Group permissions on directories, in sudoers, etc).

[yyamano]

“adm: Group adm is used for system monitoring tasks. Members of this group can read many log files in /var/log, and can use xconsole. Historically, /var/log was /usr/adm (and later /var/adm), thus the name of the group.”