Charles Chaumont (1913–2001) was a French international law scholar, born in Lille and long-time professor at the Faculty of Law and Economics of Nancy before moving to the University of Nice. Founder of the Institut du droit de la paix et du développement, he is recognised as a leading figure in French international development law doctrine. His early work addressed American neutrality (La conception américaine de la neutralité, 1936) and collective security (Sécurité des États et sécurité du Monde, 1948). From 1957 onward he engaged with the legal dimensions of space activities and in 1960 published Le Droit de l'espace (PUF, "Que sais-je?" no. 883), the first systematic treatise on space law in French, a work whose central theses were largely confirmed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. He also authored L'Organisation des Nations Unies (PUF, 1957) and made major contributions to the emerging doctrine of the "right to development".