Thursday at the Apostles' Door

Abstract

The Door of the Apostles is the Gothic entrance on the side of Valencia's cathedral. On most days it is a door. On Thursdays, at noon, eight farmers in the black smock of the huerta take their seats in front of it. Each has been elected, for a term of two years, by the farmers who share one of the historic irrigation canals that draw water from the river Turia across the irrigated plain around the city. The canals are called in turn, and anyone with a complaint against a neighbour is heard. Usually nobody has one. When somebody does, the parties speak for themselves, in Valencian, without lawyers and without paper. The procedure is summary and entirely oral. A person complained of is summoned up to three times; if he does not come, the case is decided without him. The tribunal decides on the spot, and its decision is final: there is no appeal. In most weeks the whole session is over in a few minutes. If Thursday is a holiday, the tribunal sits on Wednesday instead.