Incidence and combinatorial properties of linear complexes

In this paper a generalisation of the notion of polarity is exhibited which allows to completely describe, in an incidence-geometric way, the linear complexes of h-subspaces. A generalised polarity is defined to be a partial map which maps (h - 1)-subspaces to hyperplanes, satisfying suitable linearity and reciprocity properties. Generalised polarities with the null property give rise to linear complexes and vice versa. Given that there exists for h > 1 a linear complex of h-subspaces which contains no star - this seems to be an open problem over an arbitrary ground field - the combinatorial structure of a partition of the line set of the projective space into non-geometric spreads of its hyperplanes can be obtained. This line partition has an additional linearity property which turns out to be characteristic.