A canonical decomposition for linear operators and linear relations

An arbitrary linear relation (multivalued operator) acting from one Hilbert space to another Hilbert space is shown to be the sum of a closable operator and a singular relation whose closure is the Cartesian product of closed subspaces. This decomposition can be seen as an analog of the Lebesgue decomposition of a measure into a regular part and a singular part. The two parts of a relation are characterized metrically and in terms of Stone's characteristic projection onto the closure of the linear relation.