He fostered interdisciplinary study of the ancient world (including law, literature, papyri, and inscriptions).
[6] A devoted Roman Catholic and humanist, he was at odds with the Nazi regime first in Germany and then, after the Anschluss, in Austria, where he withdrew to his castle in Obervellach during World War II.
[7] In 1915 he also established the monograph series entitled Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung (“Munich Contributions to Papyrus Research”) and in 1922 expanded the remit of the series to Münchener Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und Antiken Rechstgeschichte ("Munich Contributions to Papyrus Research and Ancient Legal History”) which now has over 100 volumes.
[9] Wenger had intended to write "a history of the whole legal order of the Romans that would comprise the total of public, procedural, and private institutions in one great unit; however, he completed only this one volume of the massive project he had envisioned.
[citation needed] The legal history division of the law school of the University of Munich was renamed the Leopold Wenger Institute for Ancient Legal History and Papyrus Research in his honor in 1956, under the direction of Wolfgang Kunkel (and Wenger's large library became the core of that institute's collections).