In the late summer of 1628, the legal machinery of the Scottish judiciary focused its attention upon Janet Boyd, a resident of the coastal burgh of Prestonpans in Haddington. Her case, documented under the identifier C/LA/2840, formally entered the judicial record on August 8, 1628. As was common in the proceedings of this era, the focus of the authorities quickly turned toward the securing of a formal statement, and Janet was subjected to an examination that resulted in a recorded confession.
The trial proceedings, catalogued as T/LA/501, formalised the transition from her initial detention to the legal resolution of the charges brought against her. Because a confession was obtained and preserved within the archives, it served as the critical instrument of the court's process in the case of Janet. By adhering to the judicial protocols of the early seventeenth century, the records confirm that her experience concluded within the mechanisms of the local and regional ecclesiastical and civil courts, marking her as one of the many individuals caught in the intersection of law, belief, and community scrutiny during this period.