The article is devoted to a critically important, in the author’s opinion, issue of the ethical regulation of public servants’ official behavior. He considers the complex of ethical-legal mechanisms as one of the most effective ways in order to correct the obviously unsatisfactory current situation of public life in this field. As long as it is not only Russia’s trouble and many other countries pay considerable attention to ethical aspects, the author reflects the situation in the frames of a broader theoretical position and also addresses the international experience. In particular, he gives much attention to Canada, where the ethical regulation of public service is developed sufficiently well and the country has achieved serious success in this respect. Ethical codes are considered as "moral navigators" in the contemporary complicated world, because vitality and legitimity of a political system much depends on whether political institutions and behavior of high rank public officials correspond to the prevailed public values and ideals, accord with the norms and standards of public morality, or they do not. A degree of public trust to holders of public posts depends critically on it. The administrative ethical codes of different levels and the "ethical infrastructure" that provide their fulfillment have been thoroughly analyzed. Special attention is paid to the role of the leader, to moral self-restrictions of public servants and to exercising control over them. The balance between moral and legal norms has been considered in details, as well as the modern situation of Russia in this field.