ICJ - Jurisdiction in general

The International Court of Justice has a dual jurisdiction:

- Jurisdiction in contentious cases:  deciding on disputes of a legal nature that are submitted to it by States ; and
- Advisory jurisdiction: providing advisory opinions on legal questions at the request of the organs of the United Nations or specialized agencies authorized to make such a request .

The Court can only deal with a dispute when the States concerned have recognized its jurisdiction and have in some manner or other consented thereto. Court is open only to states ( no international organizations or private persons ).

An international legal dispute means disagreement on a question of law or fact, a conflict, a clash of legal views or of interests.

Access for States to the Court:

Article 35 of the ICJ Statute defines the conditions of access for States to the Court. While paragraph 1 of that Article opens it to the State parties to the Statute, paragraph 2 is intended to regulate access to the Court by States which are not parties to the Statute. The conditions of access of such States are, subject to the special provisions contained in treaties in force at the date of the entry into force of the Statute, to be determined by the Security Council.

Source: http://www.icj-cij.org