In the spring of 1661, the coastal burgh of Prestonpans in Haddingtonshire became the setting for the judicial examination of Margaret Butter. Recorded within the archival series of the Justiciary Court, her case (C/EGD/1952) formalised the legal proceedings against her on the 3rd of May. During this period, the legal machinery of Scotland was heavily engaged in the prosecution of those suspected of diabolical pacts and maleficium, and Margaret was drawn into this climate of intensive judicial scrutiny.
The documentation surrounding the trial (T/JO/1802) indicates that Margaret remained subject to the processes of the Scottish legal system throughout this time. As with many others brought before the courts in Haddington during the mid-seventeenth century, her encounter with the law was documented through these official channels, marking her status as an individual caught within the extensive witch-hunting waves that swept through the Lothians. Though the brevity of the surviving records limits our insight into the specific allegations leveled against her, the presence of her name in the High Court of Justiciary records confirms that Margaret was a documented participant in the formal legal proceedings of her era.