Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 October 2008
In this paper, the Identity Theorem of R. C. Lyndon and the Freiheitssatz of W. Magnus are extended to a large class of multi-relator groups. Included are the two-relator groups introduced by I. L. Anshel in her thesis, where the Freiheitssatz was proved for those groups. The Identity Theorem provides cohomology computations and a classification of finite subgroups. The methods are geometric; technical tools include the original theorems of Magnus and Lyndon, as well as an amalgamation technique due to J. H. C. Whitehead.