Public administration in the conditions of the Slovak Republic contributes to a great extent to ensuring the internal and external security of the state. In the following article, the author deals with the relationship between public administration and public service as terms closely related. Author takes the view, that the basic characteristic of the concept of public service is based on its formal criterion, from work to the benefit of a legal person governed by public law (state, municipality, public corporation). He submits that a civil servant may be considered to be any employee employed by a legal person governed by public law as a civil servant only as an employee employed by the State. The concept of public service has the character of a complex legal institution intervening in several sectors of our rule of law (constitutional law, administrative law, labour law).