The historical record concerning Mali Lithgow, a resident of Skirling in Peebles, provides a brief but distinct trace of a legal proceeding initiated in the mid-seventeenth century. On September 9, 1641, the judicial apparatus of Scotland formally registered a case against her under the reference number C/EGD/2281. This registration marked the beginning of a process that situated Mali within the intense period of witch-hunting that characterized the post-Reformation era in the Scottish Borders, a region where ecclesiastical and secular authorities frequently intersected to address perceived threats to the social and spiritual order.
Following the initial filing of the case, the judicial process moved toward a formal hearing under the trial reference T/JO/1110. While the surviving documentation does not elaborate on the specific accusations brought against her or the final verdict rendered by the court, the existence of these records confirms that Mali was subjected to the full weight of the Scottish legal system of the 1640s. Her case remains a documented instance of the administrative rigor with which the state managed allegations of witchcraft during this turbulent century in Peeblesshire.