Domain structures called steric (or striped) domains are investigated in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs). The domain lines are aligned perpendicular to the smectic layers with a period proportional to the FLC cell thicknessL.Neither FLC polarization nor helix pitch affects the domain pattern. Striped domains disappear in thick cells (L> 8–10μm) and transform to a new type of surface domain without any preferred orientation in thin samples (L< 1·0μm). The existence and structure of the steric domains define properties such as contrast and bistability of the FLC cell. We propose a qualitative explanation of this domain pattern and compare its characteristics with ferroelectric domains discovered earlier by Beresnevet al.in FLCs.