The monograph examines European and Latvian legal capital rules relating to the formation and the maintenance of contributed share capital. However it does not consider the whole capital maintenance regulation but only the rules relating to capital formation und distribution to shareholders. The monograph gives an overview of current legal capital regulation at EU level and American legal capital rules. It argues whether the current European and particularly Latvian legal capital rules can be understood as an efficient legal instrument for balancing the shareholder-creditor conflict. As concerns the current Latvian legal capital regulation, the monograph asks whether and how it could be improved, taking into consideration the developments and debates taking place throughout Europe.