International jurisdiction refers to the fact that the courts of a given country will be the most appropriate to hear and determine a case that has an international dimension. A dispute has an international dimension where, for example, the parties have different nationalities or are not resident in the same country. In such a situation the courts of several countries might have jurisdiction in the case, and we have what is known as a conflict of jurisdiction. The rules of international jurisdiction lay down criteria for determining the country whose courts will have jurisdiction in the case.