Sometime around 1830, Governor Darling appointed Mudie a justice of the peace, and Mudie then served on the bench at Maitland. He was feared among convicts, as he gained a reputation for being particularly severe in his judgement, and flogging criminals and convicts excessively, even for minor offences. Mudie claimed that he dealt these harsh punishments in part to counter the soft and lenient policies that Governor Bourke entertained. Bourke himself had taken the necessary steps, after he arrived in December 1831, to ensure that magistrates' powers were lessened so that petty criminals would receive better treatment. However, many law-abiding citizens and the magistrates themselves did not share Bourke's view, and the "Sydney Herald" even published articles claiming that Bourke was responsible for an increase in criminal activity in the colony. Mudie ranked among a circle of magistrates along the Hunter River who were secretly, but very passionately, against Bourke's reasoning. This company of magistrates worked towards collecting signatures for a petition, which later became known by their opponents as the 'Hole and Corner Petition'. After a suitable number of signatures had been taken down, the petition was, according to Bourke and some of his associates in 1834, sent to England 'for circulation in quarters where it is hoped an impression unfavourable to my Government may be produced.'