In the autumn of 1679, Marion Hopkirk, a resident of the parish of Kilbride near Penpoint in Dumfries, found herself entangled in the rigorous legal machinery of the Scottish witch trials. On September 16, 1679, Marion appeared within the formal record (C/LA/3093) as a person of interest to the judicial authorities. During this period, the state maintained a fugitive list of individuals who were required to provide caution—a form of financial security—to ensure their mandatory appearance at the circuit court to answer charges of witchcraft.
The outcome of these proceedings for Marion was documented in the subsequent trial notes (T/LA/1493). On the same day that her appearance was slated, the court ordered that her diet be deserted. In the lexicon of seventeenth-century Scots law, this act effectively terminated the prosecution against her. By deserting the diet, the court formally abandoned the proceedings, and Marion was released from the obligations of her caution, closing the case against her without a conviction.