The whole essence of a contract is that it's mutually beneficial.

The terms of a contract are the essence of a contract, and tell you what the contract will do.

While time may be "the soul of this world" and the "essence of contracts," in the beatific existence of Pellucidar it is nothing and less than nothing.

The "Assumptions" column is of great importance in clarifying the extent to which project/program objectives depend on external factors, and greatly clarify "force majeure" - of particular interest when the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) at least briefly used the LFA as the essence of contracts.