To provide a method for treating the surfaces of a liquid crystal display element and an alignment layer which realizes a wide viewing angle and device therefor.

The liquid crystal display element contains a pair of substrates 110, 120 having a closed space into which a liquid crystal is injected, electrodes 130, 140 formed in the closed space on respective inside surfaces of the substrates 110, 120 placed opposite to each other, a first alignment layer 150 formed on the one inside surface where the electrode 130 or 140 is formed to align the liquid crystal at least to a direction, a second alignment layer 160 formed on the other inside surface where the electrode 130 or 140 is formed to align the liquid crystal to an arbitrary direction and a liquid crystal layer 170 filled in the closed space. On the first alignment layer liquid crystal molecules are nearly vertically aligned, and on the second alignment layer the liquid crystal molecules are nearly parallelly aligned. In this case, the liquid crystal layer is filled with a liquid crystal whose dielectric anisotropy is positive or negative. In the case it is filled with a liquid crystal with positive dielectric anisotropy, it is desirable to further equip the front surface of the substrate with a biaxial compensation film which compensates a viewing angle.