As a side note the French equivalent of "land of law" is "État de droit" (i.e. "State of law"). The difference here being that Americans perhaps prefer to refe

As a side note the French equivalent of "land of law" is "État de droit" (i.e. "State of law"). The difference here being that Americans perhaps prefer to refer to their country as land (in this case "of law", but on other occasions, "of opportunity", "of the free" and so on...) whereas the French would rather embrace the idea of the (welfare) state. The former's legal system is one of common law (precedent based) whereas the latter is one of civil law (statute based). Regardless -- the judicial in France has that same responsibility of ensuring the governing laws conform with the constitutional rights (via the Conseil Constitutionnel) The difference though with the word government/gouvernement is probably, I agree, only one in language. Or what we would call in French "faux amis", or in English, "false friends" :)