In November 1629, the legal records of Edinburgh formally registered the case of Marion Porteous (C/EGD/1150). As an inhabitant of the capital city, Marion became the subject of judicial proceedings during a period when the Scottish courts were increasingly focused on the prosecution of witchcraft. The primary documentation indicates that her case was entered into the court system on the 6th of November, marking the commencement of a formal inquiry into her actions and character.
Following the initial registration of her case, Marion was subjected to the standard processes of the seventeenth-century Scottish legal system. Her trial, documented under the reference T/LA/743, signifies the movement of her matter from a preliminary complaint to a structured judicial hearing. These records provide a narrow but essential window into the mechanisms of the law in early modern Edinburgh, capturing the point at which Marion was compelled to answer for the charges levied against her before the authorities of the time.