In the summer of 1678, the judicial machinery of the Scottish courts turned its attention toward Jennet Maitland, a resident of Hielie. While the specific parish of her residence remains unconfirmed in the formal records, her case is inextricably linked to the broader proceedings against a group of individuals identified as the "Peaston witches," a connection that likely situated her trial within the jurisdiction of Ormiston. The archival record, cataloged under C/LA/3064, formalizes her entry into the legal process on the 9th of July, marking the beginning of a period of intense scrutiny by local and ecclesiastical authorities.
The subsequent trial, recorded as T/LA/1447, represents the final stage of the legal actions taken against Jennet. Within the rigid framework of seventeenth-century Scottish law, her appearance before the court followed the established procedures of the era, where the accused was subjected to the scrutiny of both legal officials and the community. By tracing her name through these surviving documents, historians can observe the systematic nature of these trials, illustrating how individuals from rural localities like Hielie were drawn into the sweeping investigations that characterized this period of Scottish history.