In the Roman Empire during late antiquity, the comes rerum privatarum (Greek: κόμης τῆς ἰδικῆς παρουσίας, kómēs tēs idikēs parousías), literally "count of the private fortune", was the official charged with administering the estates of the emperor.
The comes collected rents, handled sales of movable and immovable property, protected the estates from usurpation and accepted lands that came to the emperor by way of grant, bequest, confiscation or forfeiture.
[1] The comes sometimes grouped estates together to form a domus divinae (literally "divine household") and placed an official separate from the diocesan or provincial one in charge of it.
In the western Empire, Emperor Glycerius (473–74) created a new official, the comes patrimonii, to administer the directly-held imperial estates, leaving the comes rerum privatarum only the rented-out properties and the judicial functions connected with forfeitures and grants.
Gradually, the office lost its fiscal remit and acquired even broader judicial competence, finally dealing even with cases involving of grave robbery and marriage.