The IFRS maintenance of capital concept is defined in the conceptual framework (4.59). We can restrict attention to financial capital maintenance:
Financial capital maintenance. Under this concept a profit is earned only if the financial (or money) amount of the net assets at the end of the period exceeds the financial (or money) amount of net assets at the beginning of the period, after excluding any distributions to, and contributions from, owners during the period.
On the other hand, legal capital maintenance can be described as the doctrine that forbids a corporation to return capital to its shareholders, unless authorized by law (e.g., sanctioned reduction of capital). The corporation is only free to pay profits to the shareholders. Legal capital maintenance in the UK stems from this decision of the House of Lords: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevor_v_Whitworth
Is it simply two aspects of the same thing, i.e. IFRS concerns measurement, and law concerns obligations, or is there something more to it?
I think the following article is helpful in this regard. You may check it out.
The IAS/IFRS after the crisis: limiting the impact of fair value accounting on companies' capital
G Strampelli - European Company and Financial Law Review, 2011 - degruyter.com
While the article by Strampelli is very interesting indeed, it unfortunately doesn't touch on the IFRS conception of capital.
In my opinion, the two definitions of capital maintenance represent slightly different approaches. The first one takes the owners' point of view (you should not loose your money which means equity value should not fall) while the other is more focused on creditor protection - the share capital (but not all equity) should be a buffer for creditors claims. Have a look here - maybe you'll find it helpful:
http://kfknowledgebank.kaplan.co.uk/KFKB/Wiki%20Pages/Capital%20maintenance.aspx
Good luck with your research!
В этой связи интересен вопрос приращивания капитала и дальнейшее направление его использования. Варианты: распределения между владельцами (в виде дивидендов) или использование для развития субьекта хозяйствования.
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