In June 1661, the judicial machinery of the Scottish state focused its attention on Margaret Bowar, a resident of the burgh of Haddington. The legal proceedings against her were formally recorded under case number C/EGD/1370, marking her entry into the rigorous investigative process that characterized the peak period of witch trials in early modern Scotland. As the authorities initiated the inquiry on the 2nd of June, Margaret became one of many individuals caught within the intersection of local suspicion and the formalized legal oversight of the Justiciary Court.
Following the initial registration of her case, Margaret was brought before the court to face the charges brought against her, as documented in the trial record T/JO/1037. While the surviving archives provide the administrative framework of her appearance—capturing the date of her legal entanglement and the specific jurisdictional tracking of her prosecution—the records remain confined to these official milestones. Through these documents, the life of Margaret is preserved as a matter of historical record, reflecting the institutional practices of Haddington during a time when such accusations were processed through the established legal channels of the realm.