In the summer of 1661, the life of Jonet Thomson was defined by the legal apparatus of the Edinburgh courts. Identified in the judicial records under case reference C/LA/2760, she found herself entangled in the extensive machinery of the Scottish witch trials, facing serious accusations of witchcraft. While the records from this period are often fragmented, the trial proceedings (T/LA/260) clarify the eventual legal outcome for Jonet, documenting a verdict of not guilty.
Despite this acquittal, the resolution of her case was not immediate. Jonet remained incarcerated in the months following the court's decision, her liberty contingent upon formal administrative processes. It was not until the issuance of an order in the Justiciary Court records (JC2/11) that she was finally granted release from prison. Though historical uncertainties remain regarding her identity—as other individuals by the same name appear in the records of the era—the documented conclusion of her trial marks a significant moment of departure from the punitive legal climate of mid-seventeenth-century Edinburgh.