From the Civilist Conception of Contractual Unilateral Termination to the Statutory Notion of Dismissal

A. Bouadhain examines the evolution from civil law's contractual approach to unilateral termination toward labor law's statutory concept of dismissal in Moroccan law. The study analyzes how employment relationship cessation differs from standard contract termination. The author outlines various forms of cessation: suspension of the employment relationship (exclusive causes, illness, disciplinary layoff, force majeure), employee resignation, mutual agreement termination, non-renewal of fixed-term contracts, unilateral and substantial modification of indefinite-term contracts, and employer-fault termination. This research highlights the tension between civil law's individualistic contractual framework and labor law's protective statutory regime, demonstrating how employment termination requires distinct legal treatment beyond traditional civil contract principles.