The Lerdo Law (Spanish: Ley Lerdo) was the common name for the Reform law that was formally known as the Confiscation of Law and Urban Ruins of the Civil and Religious Corporations of Mexico. It targeted not only property owned by the Catholic Church, but also properties held in common by indigenous communities and transfer them to private hands. Liberals considered such corporate ownership as a major impediment to modernization and development in Mexico. Drafted by Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, it was enacted on 25 June 1856 by President Ignacio Comonfort, but its language was ambiguous, needing subsequent clarifications.