GUZZARDI v. ITALY JUDGMENT 23 Taken as a whole, these factors lead the Court, like the Commission, to conclude that Mr. Guzzardi did raise in substance before the courts of his country the issue of an infringement of his physical liberty. 72. The Government disputed the concept of a remedy being exercised "in substance". In their submission, this "extremely ambiguous" concept would render "empty" the protection afforded to States by Article 26 (art. 26) of the Convention since it would have the effect of "overturning" fundamental rules of domestic procedure; it would signify an "ectoplasm of a remedy" unknown to Italian law (see pp. 9-12, 14, 18 and 19 of the abovementioned memorial of 15 March 1978). The Court does not agree with this view. Admittedly, it is for each Contracting State to establish appropriate courts and tribunals, to set the limits on their jurisdiction and to lay down the conditions for bringing cases before them. However, Article 26 (art. 26), which refers to "the generally recognised rules of international law", should be applied with a certain degree of flexibility and without excessive regard for matters of form (see the Stögmüller judgment of 10 November 1969, Series A no. 9, p. 42, par. 11; the above-mentioned Ringeisen judgment, pp. 37-38, par. 89 and 92; the Deweer judgment of 27 February 1980, Series A no. 35, p. 17, 29 in fine; the Commission’s decision of 11 January 1961 on the admissibility of application no. 788/60, Austria v. Italy, Yearbook of the Convention, vol. 4, pp. 170-176). Both on appeal and in cassation Mr. Guzzardi complained of a series of factors which, taken together, could in the Court’s opinion be regarded as a deprivation of liberty. He did not, it is true, rely expressly on Article 5 (art. 5) of the Convention; he confined himself to mentioning the Convention as a whole in the general context of the living conditions at Cala Reale. However, a more specific reference was not essential in the circumstances since it did not constitute the sole means of achieving the aim pursued. Before the Italian courts, the applicant adduced arguments such as to show that the manner in which the 1956 Act had been applied to him resulted in the measures restricting an individual’s liberty authorised by that Act being transformed into a veritable deprivation of liberty suffered in a locality which he went so far as to describe as a concentration camp in which he was imprisoned. He therefore derived from the Italian legislation pleas equivalent, in the Court’s view, to an allegation of a breach of the right guaranteed by Article 5 (art. 5) of the Convention (see paragraph 71 above). In so doing, he provided the national courts, in particular the Court of Appeal, with the opportunity which is in principle intended to be afforded to Contracting States by Article 26 (art. 26), namely the opportunity of putting right the violations alleged against them (see the De Wilde, Ooms and Versyp judgment of 18 June 1971, Series A no. 12, p. 29, par. 50; the Airey judgment of 9 October 1979, Series A no. 32, p. 10, par. 18). If his appeal to the Court of Cassation proved unsuccessful, on account of the impossibility