In the spring of 1662, the town of Haddington became the site of a legal proceeding involving Marie Lamb, a married woman whose life was thrust into the machinery of the Scottish judicial system. Her involvement emerged from a broader climate of accusation centered on James Welch, an individual whose youth rendered him ineligible for formal trial, resulting in his imprisonment rather than a courtroom appearance. Despite his age, the authorities granted significant weight to the confessions and denunciations provided by James, and it was through this process that Marie was formally identified and recorded in the case archives (C/EGD/536) on April 17, 1662.
Following her denunciation, Marie faced the legal consequences recorded under trial reference T/LA/1390. While the specific nature of the evidence brought against her remains obscured by the limitations of the surviving documentation, her case stands as a representative example of the period's reliance on testimony provided by those caught within the widespread investigative net of the 17th-century witch trials. The records indicate that Marie’s journey through the Haddington courts was inextricably linked to the testimony of James, marking a pivotal moment in her documented history within the early modern Scottish legal framework.