The tlatoani of each local altepetl would continue, as he always had, to distribute farmlands among his own people, but in the case of any unresolved disputes, and certainly of any disputes with other altepetls, it was the prerogative of Tenochca judges to decide upon the proper distribution. They intervened with some frequency; years later, long after the Spaniards were in power, some local families were still simmering about Tenochtitlan’s decisions, which were generally still in force, by then having the weight of custom behind them.49
