This book is an introduction to the field of constrained Hamiltonian systems and their quantization, a topic which is of central interest to theoretical physicists who wish to obtain a deeper understanding of the quantization of gauge theories, such as describing the fundamental interactions in nature. Beginning with the early work of Dirac, the book covers the main developments in the field up to more recent topics, such as the field–antifield formalism of Batalin and Vilkovisky, including a short discussion of how gauge anomalies may be incorporated into this formalism. All topics are well illustrated with examples emphasizing points of central interest. The book should enable graduate students to follow the literature on this subject without much problems, and to perform research in this field.Contents:Singular Lagrangians and Local SymmetriesHamiltonian Approach. The Dirac FormalismSymplectic Approach to Constrained SystemsLocal Symmetries within the Dirac FormalismThe Dirac ConjectureBFT Embedding of Second Class SystemsHamilton–Jacobi Theory of Constrained SystemsOperator Quantization of Second Class SystemsFunctional Quantization of Second Class SystemsDynamical Gauges. BFV Functional QuantizationField–Antifield QuantizationReadership: Graduate students, researchers in theoretical and mathematical physics, quantum mechanics, quantum field theory.