W. Muschik, H. Ehrentraut and S. Blenk
Ericksen-Leslie liquid crystal theory revisited from a mesoscopic point of view
J. Non-Euilib. Thermodyn. 20, 1995, 92-101

Starting out with the mesoscopic concept of liquid crystal theory it is proved that the Ericksen-Leslie theory is valid in two cases: The molecules form a time-independent global planar phase or they are local totally aligned.