If you agree that the majority's attempt to distinguish Coast Bank was labored, do you think that the majority labored because Mrs. Phillips was a widow?  An elderly widow (although the opinion does not reveal her age)?  An elderly widow threatened with the loss of her residence?  In a deal with a bank?  Should gender, marital status, age, or extent of assets bear on the resolution of a contract dispute?  Is the classical contract analysis through which the majority and the dissent view this case more principled?  More predictable?  More neutral?  Scholarly pursuit of these and similar questions has been fierce in the 1980's and 1990's.  For a sample of the scholarship on Critical Legal Theory, Feminist Legal Theory, and Critical Race Theory, see a collection of readings on those topics suggested by Professor Patrick Wiseman, or the syllabi of some law school courses on critical legal theory, and some materials on legal theory prepared as part of the Harvard Bridge Project.