In the year 1700, the legal records of Selkirk bear witness to the case of Meg Lawson, an individual brought before the local authorities on an accusation of witchcraft. At this stage of the early modern period, the machinery of the Scottish courts remained deeply engaged with the complexities of such proceedings, reflecting the prevailing anxieties and legal frameworks of the time. While the specific nature of the allegations levelled against Meg remain obscured by the brevity of the archival reference, her entry in the court registers, catalogued under reference C/EGD/2431, marks her involvement in a judicial process that defined the social and religious landscape of late seventeenth-century Scotland.
The historical trace of Meg within the court system provides a focused, if fragmented, glimpse into the life of a Selkirk resident ensnared by the statutes governing the period. As historians, we look to such records not as indicators of a singular truth, but as essential documents that map the reach of the law and the mechanisms of communal regulation during this era of intense scrutiny. Although the archival notes indicate that further investigation into secondary printed sources—such as those referenced by the historian Christina Larner—remains to be completed, Meg stands as a documented subject within the broader, ongoing project of understanding the witch trials that spanned from 1563 to 1736.