On May 19, 1570, the legal apparatus of the Scottish High Court of Justiciary recorded the case of Duncan Wier. His appearance before the court in Edinburgh, catalogued under reference C/LA/3280, places him within a period of early modern history where the prosecution of witchcraft was beginning to crystallize within the Scottish judicial system. While the surviving documentation is sparse, the formal indexing of his trial—designated as T/LA/1940—confirms that Duncan was processed as a matter of significant legal record during the spring of that year.
The administrative records provide little insight into the specific accusations or the eventual outcome of the proceedings, leaving only the stark timeline of his appearance. By documenting Duncan’s trial on the same day as his recorded case, the archive preserves a brief but official moment in the life of an individual caught within the gravity of 16th-century criminal procedure. His entry serves as a clinical reflection of the formal, bureaucratic handling of witchcraft charges in Edinburgh during the reign of James VI’s minority.