The article attempts to reveal the complexity and stereoscopic nature of the conflict in the Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov” through categories of law and the legality of authorities in their historical, legal and moral understanding. The author of the work takes notice on the fact that in the play two views on the essence and origin of the tsarist power - the national-Orthodox (religious-symbolic perception of the tsar’s power) and the western (the desire for formal legality) collide. The first point of view is expressed by the people, the second is expressed by Boris Godunov. Pushkin examines different ideas about the legality and shows how their clash creates a situation in which one of the real historical forces is manipulated by others, and the mismatch of the notion of legality leads to a conflict between the ruling tsar and the people.