In August 1623, the judicial machinery of Perth turned its attention toward Margaret Hormscleugh, a resident whose case was formally registered under the reference C/EGD/936. At a time when the Scottish legal system was increasingly preoccupied with the perceived threat of maleficium, Margaret was brought before the authorities to answer for allegations of witchcraft. Her entry into the historical record marks her as one of the many individuals caught within the complex social and religious anxieties that defined the era of the Scottish witch trials.
The legal proceedings against Margaret culminated in the trial documented under reference T/LA/371, held on the 11th of August, 1623. While the specific nature of the charges brought against her remains confined to these archival citations, the existence of these records confirms that she was subjected to the full scrutiny of the local magistracy. By examining these fragments of her life, historians can better understand the administrative rigour applied to cases of witchcraft in early seventeenth-century Perth, placing Margaret within the broader context of a society navigating the intersection of law, belief, and the supernatural.