In October 1649, Marione Lawder, a resident of Mertoun in the county of Berwick, found herself caught within the mechanisms of the Scottish judicial system during a period of heightened intensity regarding allegations of maleficium. Recorded under case reference C/LA/3292, the legal proceedings against her commenced on the 26th of that month. The documents pertaining to her trial, filed under T/LA/2015, mark the formal transition of her case from initial accusation to the scrutiny of the courts.
Marione’s experience was not an isolated incident within her family, as historical records indicate that her brother was also accused during this same period. The dual implication of siblings highlights the communal and often interconnected nature of witchcraft allegations in mid-seventeenth-century Scotland, where suspicions frequently radiated outward from an initial subject to encompass their immediate kin. While the specific nature of the evidence presented against her remains obscured by the brevity of the surviving entry, the registration of both Marione and her brother underscores the pervasive reach of the legal inquiries that swept through Berwickshire in the wake of the 1649 witch-hunt.