World Court Digest

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III.	The International Court of Justice
1.	FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
1.2.	Consent of States

¤ Legality of Use of Force
(Yugoslavia v. Belgium)
Request for the Indication of
Provisional Measures
Order of 2 June 1999

[p. ] 20. Whereas the Court, under its Statute, does not automatically have jurisdiction over legal disputes between States parties to that Statute or between other States to whom access to the Court has been granted; whereas the Court has repeatedly stated "that one of the fundamental principles of its Statute is that it cannot decide a dispute between States without the consent of those States to its jurisdiction" (East Timor, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1995, p. 101, para. 26); and whereas the Court can therefore exercise jurisdiction only between States parties to a dispute who not only have access to the Court but also have accepted the jurisdiction of the Court, either in general form or for the individual dispute concerned;¹

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Cf. Orders of 2 June 1999, Legality of Use of Force Yugoslavia v. Canada (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. France (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. Germany (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. Italy (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. Netherlands (§ 20), Yugoslavia v. Portugal (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. United Kingdom (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. Spain (§ 19), Yugoslavia v. United States of America (§ 19)

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