Act of September 25, 1874
The Act of September 25, 1874 elevated to constitutional status the Reform Laws. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada enacted through a decree on September 25, 1873, a series of additions and amendments to the Mexican Constitution of 1857, concerning the Reform Laws that had decreed the separation of church and state.
Through this law the reform process that secularized two acts previously faced the church and marriage oath and consolidated as civil actions where the State was the guarantor of compliance was completed.
Background
The liberal reforms were led by President Benito Juárez. These led to the conflict between conservatives and liberalesque detonated in the Reform War. Shortly after the outbreak of the French intervention in Mexico, which is a continuation of the same conflict.
Content of the law
The articles that make up this law are:
Reactions to the Act of September 25, 1874
The subject specialist Dr. Marta Eugenia Garcia Ugarte notes that the content of the law is "the establishment of marriage as a civil contract, the ban on religious institutions to acquire real estate or capital taxes on them, and replacement of religious oath for the simple promise to tell the truth and fulfill the obligations. "
When they rose to constitutional rank the Reform Laws a long process that transformed the church-state relations closed. The response of the church through the Archbishop of Mexico, Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, followed conminado the Catholic faithful not to swear laws, and even promoted the ignorance of the 1857 Constitution.