Miguel Lerdo de Tejada

Other property, which had been used to generate income for the Church and for local governments, was to be sold with the proceeds going into the national treasury.

[4] Because of the disruptions of the War of Reform (1858 - 1861) and the French Intervention (1862 - 1867) that wracked Mexico, few properties were actually sold as a direct result of the Ley Lerdo.

Most of the "disruptions" attributed to that law actually occurred later, under legislation passed during the regime of Porfirio Díaz (1876 - 1911), but took their legal foundation in the Ley Lerdo.

Lerdo had attempted to negotiate foreign loans using confiscated church property as collateral to fund the liberal side of the War of the Reform, but was unsuccessful.

He returned to Mexico City with the victorious Liberal government at the conclusion of the War of the Reform on January 1, 1861, and took up his elected post as a member of the Supreme Court.