In the spring of 1636, the legal machinery of the Scottish state focused its attention upon a woman named Annie Bayne, a resident of Halladale in the northern reaches of Caithness. Her case, documented under the reference C/LA/3325, was entered into the official record on March 31, 1636. At this time, the judicial framework governing such accusations was increasingly formalised, reflecting a period of heightened concern regarding supernatural intervention in the lives of local communities.
Following the formal entry of her case, the legal process moved toward a judicial determination under the record T/LA/2115. The trajectory of Annie’s trial within the Scottish court system serves as a specific instance of the mid-17th-century administration of justice in the Highlands. Though the surviving archives provide only the skeletal details of her arrest and trial, they mark Annie as a distinct subject of this turbulent historical chapter, capturing her movement from her home in Halladale through the rigorous procedures of the period's criminal court.