  The formulation of Weak Isolated Horizons (WIH) based on the Isolated Horizon
formulation of black hole horizons is reconsidered. The first part of the paper
deals with the derivation of laws of mechanics of a WIH. While the zeroth law
follows from the WIH boundary conditions, first law depends on the action
chosen. We construct the covariant phase space for a spacetime having an WIH as
inner boundary for the Holst action. This requires the introduction of new
potential functions so that the symplectic structure is foliation independent.
We show that a precise cancellation among various terms leads to the usual
first law for WIH. Subsequently, we show from the same covariant phase space
that for spherical horizons, the topological theory on the inner boundary is a
U(1) Chern-Simons theory.
