Time is of the essence

A magic incantation that one puts into a contract to designate that, whatever else might go down, a party's failure to comply with obligations within the stated timeframe is a fundamental breach justifying termination of contract, a plague upon your houses, apocalyptic horsemen on the ridge and so on.

Now at common law, time is always of the essence. When any time is specified for the completion of an action, an action lies in breach if the action isn't performed by that time<ref>Parkin v Thorold (1852) 16 Beav. 59.