Friedmann, Wolfgang Gaston

Wolfgang Gaston Friedmann (25 January 1907 – 20 September 1972) was a German American legal scholar. Specializing in international law, he was a faculty member at Columbia Law School. Born in Berlin, Friedmann finished his studies of law at the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1930. Being Jewish, he immigrated to the United States shortly after the Nazis' seizure of power in Germany. In 1955, he became a professor of international law at Columbia University. In 1972, he was robbed and stabbed to death near Columbia campus in Manhattan. The Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award was established in his honor.

The author argues throughout this text that law must adapt itself to social change if it is to remain the strength of creating social order in society. Sections include discussions on: Theory of Legal Change, Social Change and Legal Institutions, Society and the Individual, Public Law, and Law Between Nations.