Cottontop
Senior Member
Great point on the drop dead date for major projects. It's common in the construction industry. If one is going to use it they should specify the penalty and even why there's a penalty.
Many people put "time is of the essence" in a contract. It means absolutely nothing. You still have to prove it really was. Just because it's in the contract does not give an assumption it's true.
In days of yore, contracts were often about farm produce, and stuff was shipped on sailing vessels. Dates in contracts were understood to be estimates, and courts would allow reasonable deviations from those estimates. The presumption that dates in a contract are merely estimates survives in US contract law today.
In our modern world, parties often want dates in a contract to be strictly complied with; the dates are not to be treated as estimates, and any failure to perform in accordance with the dates in the contract will be a breach. "Time is of the essence" is a term of art used to express the contracting parties agreement in this regard, and the phrase is very important when it appears.
US contract law will not enforce penalties.