Apostles' Door and the Water Tribunal

You are facing the Apostles' Door, the Gothic façade of the cathedral that looks onto Plaza de la Virgen. Look at the stone figures on either side of the arch, badly eroded over the centuries, and at the great rose window. Every Thursday, in front of this door, one of the oldest courts of justice in Europe sits: the Water Tribunal.

1Judges in black smocks

The judges are not lawyers but farmers: the síndicos elected by the irrigators' communities of the canals, or acequias, that water Valencia's market gardens, the huerta. Dressed in black smocks, they sit in armchairs inside a small fenced enclosure and settle disputes in public: over whose turn it is to irrigate, stolen water or badly kept channels.

2A trial without paperwork

Everything is done by word of mouth and in Valencian. The bailiff calls the accused, both parties are heard and the verdict is given on the spot, with no appeal. To guarantee impartiality, the síndico of the defendant's canal takes no part in the decision. Fines are still calculated in “sueldos”, an old unit of account.

3A thousand years of history?

You will often read that the tribunal dates back to Moorish times. It is a reasonable hypothesis, but its exact origin is uncertain: the date of 960, proposed by the jurist Francisco Javier Borrull, has no documentary support. What is certain is that in 2009 UNESCO inscribed it as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, together with the Council of Good Men of Murcia.

Here justice is not written down: it is spoken aloud, in front of anyone who cares to listen.

4What to look for

• The rose window, whose tracery forms a six-pointed star.
• The figures of the apostles, worn down by soft stone and time.
• The Turia Fountain, in the middle of the square: its eight female figures represent the canals.