In the autumn of 1649, the judicial machinery of the Scottish kirk and state turned its attention toward Adam Kirktoun, a resident of the burgh of Jedburgh in Roxburghshire. On the 20th of November, Adam was formally entered into the legal record under case reference C/EGD/2059. This registration marked the beginning of a precarious process during a period when concerns regarding maleficium and covenanting with darker forces were frequently addressed through the local consistory and secular courts.
Following the initial registration of his case, the procedural movement against Adam culminated in a trial, documented under reference T/LA/2070. As a male accused in the seventeenth century, Adam occupied a specific position within the broader landscape of the Scottish witch trials, which saw a significant surge in legal proceedings during the late 1640s. The archival trail for Adam—from his residence in Jedburgh to his appearance before the court—reflects the systematic application of contemporary statutes that sought to identify and adjudicate those suspected of supernatural transgression.