Key features

The uniqueness of the Water Tribunal is due to several reasons. However, some of the tribunal’s most relevant features, according to the study carried out by Professor V. Fairén Guillém (The Water Tribunal of Valencia and Its Procedure. Valencia, 1975), are highlighted below:

• Concentration. Because the trustees have before them what is known as the procedural investigation of the facts in order to proceed judicially and resolve matters without delays. There is the reporting guard/farmer, the accused party, and both present their case, providing evidence and witnesses.
• Orality. The entire trial is conducted orally, from the complaint—generally filed by the guard—to the judgment, including the inquiry, clarifying, explaining, or justifying the facts with the intervention of the President and the trustees, who also question the parties verbally.
• Speed. This is the feature that has perhaps most influenced the survival of this tribunal over the centuries. It meets once a week, deals with offences committed from the previous Thursday to the current one, and matters may only be delayed for up to 21 days.
• Economy. The proceedings of this tribunal do not entail any procedural costs. The trustees receive neither a salary nor an allowance, as settling and mediating these matters forms part of their duties as trustees of the irrigation canals. The accused party must pay the amount of the guards’ or bailiff’s travel expenses. If the accused party has caused damage and is ordered to make a payment, they must assume the financial responsibility, but it is not considered a procedural cost.