In the spring of 1629, the legal machinery of early seventeenth-century Scotland turned toward a resident of Lanark named James Frame. On April 15, James was formally processed under the case designation C/EGD/1101, marking the beginning of a judicial trajectory that would involve multiple levels of the Scottish legal system. In this era, the mechanisms for addressing allegations of witchcraft were rigorous, often involving local sessions and central criminal authorities, reflecting the gravity with which such accusations were treated under the contemporary statutes.
The subsequent proceedings against James are documented across two distinct judicial records, cataloged as T/JO/2171 and T/LA/711. These references indicate that the case transitioned from its initial registration into a formal trial process, likely involving the scrutiny of magistrates or commissioners appointed to oversee the investigation. While the sparse nature of these archival entries—typical of the surviving administrative record—leaves the specific details of the accusations against James unstated, the presence of multiple trial documents underscores the administrative complexity and the formal procedural steps inherent in the prosecution of witchcraft in Lanark during this period.