Free Lands, Wetlands and End Channels (Francs, marjals, and extremals) of the city of Valencia
The Jurisdiction of Francs, marjals, and extremals of the city of Valencia is a historic municipal institution of the Valencian main city, responsible for the management and organization of the irrigation system within a part of the lands of its district, specifically that located between the most eastern limits of the urban area and the sea, especially in towards the Albufera.
Generally unknown by our society, although its origins date back to medieval times, this is probably due to the fact that it does not form, nor has ever formed, part of the territory and jurisdiction of the Tribunal de les Aigües of the Vega of Valencia (a specific water court from l’Horta), instead, it has had its own organisation since the 14th century.
Following the conquest of Valencia by King James I in 1238, the irrigated areas of each of the irrigation canals of l’Horta of Valencia, with the exception of the one corresponding to the Royal irrigation canal of Moncada, began to be managed autonomously by the owners of the lands that made use of the seven canals or hydraulic systems. It was precisely for this reason that the wetlands or de marjal, which in Valencian terminology are of Arab origin, were excluded. They were located along the coast of the general area of Valencia, from the southern limits of the Devesa del Saler to the edge of the sea in the areas of Puig and Puçol, reaching inland as far as the gates of Alboraya and Benimaclet to the north of the city, and Russafa to the southeast.
For a century and a half, until the end of the 14th century, these wetlands were used for grazing, hunting and fishing, but also for the progressive drying out and ploughing of new land, normally on the initiative of private individuals but with permits for appropriation and use by the municipal council of the Valencian capital. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we have some news of drainage at the end of the 13th  and beginning of the 14th  century, at least for the area between Valencia, Russafa and La Albufera, the biggest step in drainage could have been taken with the construction of two large drainage collectors. The King's irrigation canal, which emptied the surplus water from the south of Patraix and Malilla into the Albufera through the so-called Rambleta, and another canal, the Fluvià, which carried out the same process to the east of Russafa, taking the remaining water to the River Turia.
Undoubtedly, all these lands were attractive for their agricultural possibilities, but the task was difficult and complicated because it was necessary to organize the drainage system of the surplus water, as well as to channel the water coming from the irrigation canals of the Tribunal de les Aigües to the sea, and to maintain the entire irrigation system in good condition. For this reason, following the arrival of the Black Death in 1348 with the consequent deaths and the material damage caused by the long war againts Castile between 1356 and 1365, a large part of this entire area was left half abandoned and without maintenance, as happened in other rural areas.
A few years later, at the beginning of 1380, the municipal council of Valencia planned an operation to put these spaces back into cultivation and sanitation, for which they negotiated some capitulations with the bishopric of Valencia to favour the labour and economic efforts of the people who returned to drain and plough the territory between Russafa, Alfafar and the lake of L’Albufera. This agreement was ratified in turn by King Peter the Ceremonious on 16th  August 1386, and this is the origin of what was then known as the Jurisdiction of “Francs i Marjals” (Free Lands and Wetlands) of the city of Valencia, which has lasted until the present day. The reason for the pact with the bishop was that the lands that were put into cultivation were free from the payment of one tenth of the annual harvest (the ecclesiastical tithe) to the said bishopric for ten years, in order to favour the efforts to fix the ditches and irrigation canals. As far as the organisation is concerned, if ownership were vested in the municipal council itself, the latter would delegate one of the juries in the capital as the commissioner of the “Francs i Marjals”.
Throughout the almost five and a half centuries of its history, it has logically gone through various vicissitudes and transformations at the same pace as the historical changes in our society. Thus, with the abolition of the Furs of Valencia in 1707 by King Philip V of Spain, the municipal system was modified with the creation of councillors and the Chief Magistrate, with periodic conflicts of competence between the new Bourbon municipality and the royal authority. A new step was taken in 1824 when Valencia City Council agreed to create the figure of the Commissioner Councillor for “Francs i Marjals” with delegation of administrative functions, simultaneously with the delegation of judicial functions by the Chief Magistrate.
The reforms of the 19th century were aimed towards separating the judicial systems from the powers of the royal delegates or the State, on the one hand, and from the municipal institutions, on the other. Nonetheless, as was the case with the Tribunal de les  Aigües of  la Vega, the jurisdiction of “Francs i Marjals” remained in the hands of the said Commissioner in all matters relating to the material preservation of the irrigation systems in his area, as well as the judicial powers with regard to infringements in the activity of irrigating the fields.
Subsequently, in 1931 Valencia City Council approved new ordinances for Francs, Marjals and Extremals of the city of Valencia which have been in force until the changes of modernisation and adaptation in recent years.

Traditionally, the water resources for irrigating these areas always came from two sources: the springs and fangs of greater or lesser importance that sprang up on the borders of these wetlandss, and the surplus from the city's irrigation canals, which ended their channels and branches in these wetlands. It is precisely what these surpluses took advantage of that is why they were sometimes called "irrigation of fortune". But it is also the reason why they did not pay anything in the irrigation communes to make use of them, although neither did they guarantee that surpluses would arrive and even less in times of drought.
These spaces with wetlands were not only preserved for centuries in the strict surroundings of the Albufera up to Castellar and the Forn d’ Alcedo, but were also maintained in the area of the Punta and Pou de n'Aparisi, as well as to the north of the Turia and Cabanyal rivers. It was already in the 18th and 19th centuries when part of them dried up, like the wheel of the water mill and chapel of Vera, for instance, and on the two banks at the end of the Carraixet ravine.
This progressive drying up made the space of “Francs i Marjals” increase until the beginning of the 20th century, starting after that its territorial reduction progressively as the city of Valencia extended the urban area over it until the present day. The other significant change occurred in the 1960s when part of these areas was integrated into the common irrigation areas of Favara, Mestalla and Rascanya.