Germany (Deutschland) is a Constitutional Monarchy, consisting of thirty states, known in German as Länder (singular Land). Since Land is the literal German word for "country", the term Reichsländer (imperial states; singular Reichsland) is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law. Speaking of the relationship with each other, the states in Germany are called Bundesländer or (singular) Bundesland.