In April 1568, James Ochterlonyes, a resident of Arbirlot in Forfar, found himself subject to legal proceedings concerning the charge of witchcraft. According to the extant records, James lived under the jurisdiction of the laird of Kellie, placing his life and person within the complex socio-political framework of mid-sixteenth-century Scottish lordship. This was a period when the nascent legal system was increasingly formalising its response to perceived diabolical activity, and the documentation surrounding his case—identified as C/LA/3395—remains a significant entry in the administrative history of the era.
The trial, recorded under T/LA/2263, formalised the transition of James’s status from a subject of the laird to a defendant before the courts. While the specific nature of the allegations brought against him is not preserved in the surviving manuscripts, the procedural record highlights the administrative gravity with which such accusations were treated during the early stages of Scotland's witch-hunting period. By examining the records of James, historians gain insight into the reach of the law into rural communities like Arbirlot, illustrating how individual lives were drawn into the broader judicial apparatus established to investigate and prosecute the crime of witchcraft.