C. Northcote Parkinson and journalist Ann Fry (1921–1983), with whom he had two sons and a daughter. In 1958, while still in Singapore, he published his most famous work, "Parkinson's Law", which expanded upon a humorous article that he had published in the "Economist" magazine in November 1955, satirising government bureaucracies. The 120-page book of short studies, published in the United States and then in Britain, was illustrated by Osbert Lancaster and became an instant best seller. It explained the inevitability of bureaucratic expansion, arguing that 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion'. Typical of his satire and cynical humour,
Mechanisms of the English common law strictly speaking that principle is too wide to be said to be "ratio decidendi". Nevertheless, if that broad principle is approved and applied by later courts, then the principle will eventually be treated as "ratio". A particular example is the broad "neighbour principle", enunciated by Lord Atkin in "Donoghue v Stevenson" 1932, which has become the basis of the modern law of negligence. When judges may face conflicting precedents, they may select the preferable case. Dissenting judgments are not "ratio", and so must be "obiter". Sometimes, with the passage of time, more attention is given to the dissenting judgment that