Autrefois, «conjoint» voulait dire le mari et la femme, mais aujourd'hui, la société a évolué et il existe tellement de relations de couple différentes, comportant certains des avantages et des inconvénients d'une relation conjugale traditionnelle, certaines étant régies par nos lois, tandis que d'autres le sont seulement par des conventions sociales.
' In the old days, ``spousal'' meant husband and wife but now, as society has developed so many different relationships and they have some of the strengths and weaknesses of a spousal relationship of the traditional type, some are caught within our laws but some are only conventions within our social stream.