Leyes de Reforma

The Reform Laws were a set of liberal laws championed by Benito Juárez and his generation that established the separation of church and state in Mexico. They nationalized church property, created the civil registry for births, marriages, and deaths, and established freedom of religion.

The laws provoked the War of the Reform (1858-1861) between liberals and conservatives, which the liberals won. Don’t confuse the Reform Laws with the Constitution of 1857, the liberal charter of the same era that they complemented.