Parkinson's law Parkinson's law Parkinson's law is the adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". It is sometimes applied to the growth of bureaucracy in an organization. This law is likely derived from ideal gas law, whereby a gas expands to fit the volume allotted. Articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of the first sentence of an essay published in "The Economist" in 1955 and since republished online, it was reprinted with other essays in the book "Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress" (London, John Murray, 1958). He derived the dictum from his extensive
It is time to work for the Lord uprooted than that the whole of the Torah be forgotten." ("Gittin" 60a-b, Elon "Jewish Law" 5:1, Louis Jacobs, p. 133 trans.) In the modern period, the dramatic character of the verse again enters the stage. The verse is among those utilized to justify rabbinic innovations in halakhah (Elon "Jewish Law" 14:3, 14:5). In Enlightenment period Germany, both the Reform rabbis and their Orthodox opponents cite the verse to justify the urgent nature of their actions ("It is time to act for the Lord"). The two conflicting positions see quite different referents for the verse's "they have voided the law"—the Reformers