On 24 January 1637, the judicial machinery of early modern Scotland turned its attention toward Margaret Livie, a resident of Banff. Her case, documented under reference C/LA/3341, emerged during a period when the Scottish legal system was increasingly preoccupied with the investigation and prosecution of alleged maleficium. Margaret was brought before the authorities to answer for accusations that linked her to the clandestine practice of witchcraft, a process that would ultimately see her move from initial inquiry to the formal proceedings recorded under trial reference T/LA/2132.
The records concerning Margaret provide a brief but significant snapshot of her interaction with the seventeenth-century kirk and civil courts. As the legal investigation progressed, Margaret faced the scrutiny of local officials tasked with adjudicating her involvement in activities deemed contrary to the established social and religious order of the time. While the specific nature of the accusations against her remains confined to these archival notations, the existence of a distinct trial record underscores the gravity with which the community and the state regarded the charges brought against Margaret in the winter of 1637.