Relative Goursat categories

We define relative Goursat categories and prove relative versions of the equivalent conditions defining regular Goursat categories. These include 3-permutability of equivalence relations, preservation of equivalence relations under direct images, a condition on so-called Goursat pushouts, and the denormalised 3×3 Lemma. This extends recent work by Gran and Rodelo on a new characterisation of Goursat categories to a relative context. © 2012 Elsevier B.V..