  The scalar field is quantized in the discretized light-front framework
following the {\em standard} Dirac procedure and its infinite volume limit
taken. The background field and the nonzero mode variables do not commute for
finite volume; they do so only in the continuum limit. A {\em non-local
constraint} in the theory relating the two is shown to follow and we must deal
with it along with the Hamiltonian. At the tree level the constraint leads to a
description of the spontaneous symmetry breaking. The elimination of the
constraint would lead to a highly involved light-front Hamiltonian in contrast
to the one found when we ignore altogether the background field. The
renormalized constraint equation would also account for the instability of the
symmetric phase for large enough couping constant.
