Every Thursday at noon the Tribunal de las aguas (water court) meets outside the cathedral in the city of Valencia along Spain’s Mediterranean coast. For more than a thousand years, it is believed, the court has ruled on disputes affecting the irrigation of the arable lands known as huertas, which nourish the lemon trees, the oranges and other crops that give this region its distinctive scents and flavours, and for many, livelihoods as well.