The author of labor, through an in-depth considiration, tries to understand, capture and notify the essential elements and immanent features of the principles of hierarchy and subordination in the public administration. Administration is one of the key entities in the physiognomy of the state system. It is a complex mechanism and, in general, a hierarchically profiled structure, which forms the "spine" of the state. Hierarchy and subordination are the basic substrate of administrative architecture. In an organizational sense, the hierarchical principle is a system of eldership, whose essence is expressed in the obligation of the subordinate entity (individual or authority) to conform to the orders of the superordinate elder in a strictly formalized system of mutual relations that arise in connection with the performance of the working tasks within an organization. The hierarchical pyramid is a stratified (layered) system of functions, ranging from the more specific to the more general. Within that system, carriers of more general functions control the work of carriers of closer functions. The hierarchical structure has the form of a vertical chain, in which each higher level has authority over the lower one, and each lower level submits to the orders and the directives at the higher level. Hierarchical placement allows vertical process management, providing easier management, effective control, as well as locating the responsibility and dysfunctionality of each link in the administrative chain. According to modern understandings, which occurred with the establishment of the legal state, there is a legally established border and a demarcation line to which the elder can move when issuing specific orders to the subordinates. That limit implies that the elder can not issue orders to the subordinates. This means that in modern-established states, in which the administration is based on the pivotal principle of legality, subordination actually arises as a kind of counterbalance to the hierarchy. In accordance with the principle of subordination, when the duty of the civil servant is prescribed to perform the orders of the head of the body, as well as the orders of the immediate superior officer, it is noted that the civil servant is obliged to act upon those orders, but exclusively in accordance with the Constitution , by law or by other regulation. The fundamental dilemma that is put in front of the author of the labor and on which the focus of the scientific-research interest is placed is by determining and clarifying the essence of the principles of hierarchy and subordination, to answer the question: is the hierarchy and subordination synonyms, dichotomous categories or predestined two sides of the same medal?