If G is an ordinary group and H is a non-empty subset of G, then there are two elementary criteria for H to be a subgroup of G. The first and more general is that the mapping H × H → G × G → G, via 〈x, y〉 ⟼ xy–1 factor through H. The second is that H be finite and closed under multiplication.

In the category of group schemes, if one writes down the hypotheses for the first criterion in diagram form, one can supply the proof by a suitable translation of the classical arguments. The only point that causes any difficulty whatsoever is that one must assume that the structure morphism πH: H → S (S is the base scheme) is an epimorphism in order to factor the identity section through H. The second criterion is also true for group schemes under a mild finite presentation hypothesis. It is our aim to provide a simple proof for the following theorem.