In November 1661, the administrative machinery of the Scottish witch trials turned its attention toward Janet Stoddart, a resident of the parish of Inveresk in Edinburgh. At this time, Janet was formally processed under case file C/EGD/2423, a period during which the legal and ecclesiastical authorities in the Lothians were particularly active in identifying those suspected of diabolical pacts. The documentation captures the initial stages of a judicial inquiry that would eventually necessitate her formal appearance before the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh.
The legal proceedings moved forward in 1662, as Janet was brought to trial under the reference T/JO/1662. The records for this case reflect the standard procedural rigor of the Restoration-era judiciary, marking the culmination of the process initiated in Inveresk the previous autumn. By being brought before the Justiciary court, Janet became part of the broader pattern of seventeenth-century Scottish legal history, where the accusations leveled against individuals like her were meticulously transcribed and adjudicated within the frameworks of contemporary statute and theology.