“In the time of Justinian the universitas rerum, or universitas iuris (both expressions are used) is a somewhat abstract conception: it means the sum or whole of a man’s legal position so far as it concerns the ius rerum. The conception is important in law only on the occasions, of which death is by far the most important, on which the universitas passes from one to another…. The expression universitas rerum is also used in another sense, to denote any collection of objects considered as a whole.” W.W. Buckland, A Manual of Roman Private Law 172 (2d ed. 1953).
universitas rerum
universitas rerum (yoo-ni-v[schwa]r-s[schwa]-tas reer-[schwa]m). [Latin] Roman & civil law. A whole collection of things; a variety of individual things that are together regarded by the law as a whole. See JUS RERUM.
