  We discuss the issue initiated by Kucha\v{r} {\it et al}, of replacing the
usual Hamiltonian constraint by alternative combinations of the gravitational
constraints (scalar densities of arbitrary weight), whose Poisson brackets
strongly vanish and cast the standard constraint-system for vacuum gravity into
a form that generates a true Lie algebra. It is shown that any such
combination---that satisfies certain reality conditions---may be derived from
an action principle involving a single scalar field and a single Lagrange
multiplier with a non--derivative coupling to gravity.
