In the historical records of the mid-seventeenth century, the name of James Jervie appears amidst the administrative machinery of the Scottish justice system. A resident of Stirling, James was swept into the judicial proceedings during a period of heightened activity regarding accusations of witchcraft. The documentation preserved in case C/LA/3030 identifies him as an individual marked for legal intervention during the year 1658, a time when the authorities were intensifying their scrutiny of those suspected of supernatural transgressions.
By the time his name was recorded in the trial notes under T/LA/1297, James had been placed on an official register of individuals designated for arraignment before the justice courts. This undated list, compiled between 1658 and 1659, underscores his transition from a local inhabitant to a formal subject of the state’s legal apparatus. Although the surviving records do not detail the specific depositions or testimony brought against him, they confirm that James was held within the reach of the High Court of Justiciary as the Scottish authorities moved to process his case alongside others accused during this tumultuous era.