In the summer of 1674, Margaret Clerk, a married woman of lower socioeconomic status residing in the Seatown of Cullen, Banff, found herself at the centre of a significant legal struggle involving the machinery of the Scottish witch trials. Her ordeal began with a pursuit initiated by two local lairds and a bailie, who sought to bring her to trial for witchcraft. Demonstrating a remarkable grasp of legal procedure, Margaret appealed her case to the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, challenging the competence of her local accusers. She argued that the lairds and bailie lacked the necessary education to preside over such a grave matter and had failed to adhere to the requirements of due process, specifically by neglecting to provide her with a list of witnesses and the assize, or by failing to hear testimony in her presence.
The High Court’s intervention on 4 June 1674 marked a pivotal moment in the proceedings. The judges found merit in Margaret’s grievances, effectively validating her challenge against the local authorities. As the court records indicate, the prosecution faltered thereafter; when the summoned pursuers failed to appear to justify their case, the diet was formally deserted. This legal resolution effectively halted the attempt to bring Margaret to trial, illustrating the complex interplay between local accusation and the centralized judicial oversight that defined the late seventeenth-century Scottish legal landscape.