VALENCIA`S WATER COURT•Is the body, that the irrigators’ associations from the canals of Valencia’s fertile plain set up and gradually has improved over time for governing and sharing the water used mainly for irrigarion

•The court is made up of the eight canal officials (Quart, Benàger i Faitanar, Tormos, Mislata, Mestalla, Favara, Rascanya and Rovella).

•They celebrate a meeting every Thursday on the right-hand side of Valencia Cathedral’s Cothic door of the Apostles at twelve o’clock.

•In September 2009 the court was named as Inmaterial cultural Heritage of the World

Funcionamiento•It’s made up of eight canal officials, one for each channel; called síndics. They are democratically elected from the irrigating members of their respective association but not only do they hold sway over a particular irrigation canal, but also over the ensemble of these.

• Officials are not judges, they are not ignorant of the law they have to apply. This is based on Ordinances in which they are expert and that constitute the corpus jurris governing each of the Canal Associations (their waering turns, obligations as regards cleaning irrigation canals and channels, payment of contributions for the Association’s overheads and much more..)

•One of these officials are elected as “Chief justice” for an undetermined period of time.

• The bailiff asks the President’s permission to start the calls and hails for all to hear “All those accused from de Séquia de Quart” and, if there are any, the defendants come forward acompanied by the chanel warden. The people summoned are then heard in the same order in which the canals take the river water, starting with Quart, which is the first, and ending with Rovella, the last.

• The procedures are all oral The trial proceedings is all held in the Valencian language.

• In order to guarantee impartiality, the Official for the canal to which parties belong does not intervene. It is also a rule that if an accused belongs to a canal on the right bank of the river, the sentence is passed by the ofricials of the left or viceversa. If the sentence is a conviction, the President states this with the ritualphrase: “Este tribunal li condena a pena i costes, danys i perjuins, en arreglo a Ordenances” (This court herby convicts you and orders you to pay costs and damages, accordint to the ordinances). The Ordinances of the respective canals lay down the penalties for the different offences.

• No appeals can be made as the sentence is itself executive: the channel official is in charge of this. The court only examines and determines if the accsed is guilty or innocent.

Historia

•The origen is completely unkown

•The most widespread theory is that there was a precedent in the roman time, but its foundation as we know nowadays was during the Caliphate of Abd al-Rahman III and al-Hakam II, in the year 960.

•But, there isn’t any written document until XVIII the century