In the autumn of 1649, the judicial machinery of the Scottish kirk and state reached into the parish of Borthwick, near Edinburgh, to confront James Hugo. On the 24th of October, James, a married man residing within the local community, was formally brought to account under the designation of case C/EGD/1991. The proceedings initiated against him reflected the broader anxieties of a period in which accusations of witchcraft were being processed with increasing frequency across the Midlothian region.
Following the initial registration of his case, James was subjected to the rigours of the legal system as his matter progressed to a formal trial, documented under reference T/LA/2010. While the surviving records capture the administrative trajectory of his ordeal—marking the transition from a local accusation to the procedural formality of the court—they remain silent on the specific testimonies brought against him. As the legal process unfolded, James occupied the position of an accused party within a system that treated the charge of witchcraft as a grave violation of both spiritual and civil order.