In the winter of 1643, Margaret Lauder, a resident of Edinburgh, found herself at the centre of a formal legal proceeding that would ultimately lead to her execution. Her entanglement with the law began in early December, when she provided a series of confessions to the authorities between the 4th and the 13th of the month. Notably, these statements were not entirely consistent; on 7 December, the same day she provided one of her confessions, Margaret also formally retracted her testimony. Her case was further complicated by her implication in the broader legal proceedings of the time, as she was denounced by the magistrates and ministers of Edinburgh and specifically named as an accomplice by another accused woman, Jonet Cranstoun.
The conclusion of the matter arrived on 29 December 1643, when Margaret faced an assize composed of local tradesmen, including a merchant, a cordiner, a wright, a baxter, a stabler, and a locksmith. The jury found her guilty of charges relating to a witches' meeting. Following the verdict, the sentence was carried out at Castle Hill in Edinburgh. In accordance with the judicial practices of the era, Margaret was strangled and then burned.