He received his doctorate in 1924 at the University of Freiburg and his Habilitation in 1926 (both were directed by Professor Ernst Levy).
There he worked with the prominent classical scholars Eduard Fraenkel, Hermann Frankel, and Kurt Latte.
During World War II he served as a judge in the German Army, where he followed his own ethical principles and was able to prevent several injustices.
He moved to the University of Munich in 1956 and renamed the Institute for Papyrus Research and Ancient Legal History the Leopold Wenger Institute for Ancient Legal History and Papyrus Research in honor of the Austrian historian of Roman law Leopold Wenger (also an Anti-Nazi).
[8] After his retirement in 1970, his former student Dieter Nörr succeeded him as director of the Leopold Wenger Institute for Ancient Legal History and Papyrus Research.