  Building towards a more covariant approach to canonical classical and quantum
gravity we outline an approach to constrained dynamics that de-emphasizes the
role of the Hamiltonian phase space and highlights the role of the Lagrangian
phase space. We identify a "Lagrangian one-form" to replace the standard
symplectic one-form, which we use to construct the canonical constraints and an
associated constraint algebra. The method is particularly useful for generally
covariant systems and systems with a degenerate canonical symplectic form, such
as Einstein Cartan gravity, to which we apply the method explicitly. We find
that one can demonstrate the closure of the constraints without gauge fixing
the Lorentz group or introducing primary constraints on the phase space
variables. Finally, using geometric quantization techniques, we briefly discuss
implications of the formalism for the quantum theory.
