policies of Juárez
TITLE: Benito Juárez: Early career.
SECTION: Early career.
...the law bearing his name that abolished special courts for the clergy and military, for he felt that juridical equality would help promote social equality. In June 1856 the government published the Ley Lerdo (“Lerdo Law,” named after the minister of finance). Although it forced the church to sell its property, it contained no threat of confiscation. By breaking up large landed...
restrictions on ecclesiastical corporations
TITLE: Mexico: La Reforma
SECTION: La Reforma
...fueros (special exemptions) and the use of special military and ecclesiastical courts in civil cases. The minister of finance, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, sponsored the Ley Lerdo (June 25, 1856), which restricted the right of ecclesiastical and civil corporations to own lands by decreeing that church lands not directly used for religious purposes and lands held in...