Contra mundum
The Latin phrase contra mundum, meaning 'against the world', is used in a number of different contexts.
To say, e.g., to a friend 'I am with you contra mundum' is to pledge one's unconditional loyalty, to promise that one will be 'on their side' whatever the circumstances, whoever is against them, even in the face of opposition from the whole world. So this use of the phrase expresses an unqualified commitment to a person or persons in the face of anticipated hostility from some individual or group.
A well known fictional example of this use of the phrase is to be found in Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, when the protagonist and narrator, Charles Ryder, then an undergraduate at Oxford University, pledges unconditional loyalty to his friend and fellow undergraduate, Lord Sebastian Flyte, who is close to becoming an alcoholic and is being forced by his family to leave the University. See Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (first published by Chapman & Hall 1945, revised edition 1960; published by Penguin Books 1951, revised edition, 1970): the relevant passage is in Book One, Et in Arcadia ego. Ch. 5, p. 139 of the revised Penguin edition.
Rather differently, the phrase Athanasius contra mundum may be said of a person who obstinately refuses to abandon a belief despite the overwhelming evidence against it, or who, especially in religious contexts, persists in defending a position which the rest of the world has rejected. The Athanasius of whom this expression was originally used was a fourth century Egyptian Christian, the foremost theologian of his age and Pope of Alexandria, who was noted for his fierce opposition to the heretical doctrines of Arianism and his indefatigable and uncompromising defence of his own beliefs – which brought him into conflict with the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 307-337 CE) and with several of Constantine's successors.
In legal contexts a contra mundum injunction is a court order (to carry out or refrain from carrying out a particular act) which applies to everyone and can be enforced against anyone who knows about it - by contrast with an injunction which applies only to one or more named individuals. Contra mundum injunctions, which have been used within the English legal system with increasing frequency in recent years, may, e.g., enable a person in the public eye to protect their privacy and to prevent breaches of confidence.
