In the early summer of 1629, Janet Brotherstanes, a resident of Berwick, found herself caught within the formal machinery of the Scottish legal system. On June 2, 1629, the record keeper formally entered her case into the judicial register under the reference C/EGD/631. This administrative action marked the commencement of a process that would ultimately bring Janet before the regional authorities to answer charges of witchcraft, a period in Scottish history when such accusations were increasingly handled through the local presbyteries and the High Court of Justiciary.
Following the initial registration of the case, Janet was subjected to the formal trial process cataloged under T/LA/676. As the legal proceedings unfolded, the focus centered on the specific allegations brought against her, reflecting the grave anxieties regarding supernatural influence prevalent in the early modern Borders. Throughout the duration of these proceedings, Janet remained at the center of a rigorous evidentiary inquiry, as the judicial record meticulously tracked her movement through the courts of 17th-century Scotland.