Jack Hudson retires from the bench

After 31 years on the Justice of the Peace Court bench, Jack Hudson is retiring.

His tenure at the court will wrap up this summer as he helps the court transition to his replacement. 

Much of Hudson’s recent service was at Justice of the Peace Court 2 in Lewes, where he served as a magistrate, which serves the same function as a judge but rules in cases involving lower-level charges such as traffic offenses, shoplifting, and landlord/tenant cases, and serves as the first step up the judicial system ladder. 

In Delaware, being a magistrate does not require a law degree, but candidates are tested on their reading comprehension, judgment and reasoning, and later they’re subjected to an interview with the state’s Magistrate Screening Committee. The committee then recommends a candidate to the governor. If the governor decides to appoint the candidate, that person’s name would then go to the state Senate for confirmation. 

Hudson is a lifelong Miltonian. With the exception of his stint in the Army, he’s never lived anywhere else – nor does he much want to. He lives on Hazzard Street in a home his great-grandmother once owned, and he grew up in a house on the other side of the street.

“I haven’t moved very far,” he said.

Hudson was drafted into the Army in 1967. He did training at Fort Knox, Ky., eventually ending up at Fort Dix, N.J., where he awaited what was next.

“I got orders to go to Korea. They rescinded them the next day. I got orders to go to Alaska. They got rescinded the next day. And then finally I got orders to go to Vietnam. I thought, ‘This is it, I’m going to Vietnam.’ And then those got rescinded the next day,” he said.

Eventually, Hudson ended up getting assigned to Butzbach, Germany, a town north of Frankfurt that’s about the size of Milford. 

“Our headquarters was in a castle. In World War II, it had been a headquarters for the SS, and they still had their emblem carved over the door. So, of course, the United States had put the eagle over top of it. In our post, we only had about 700 to 900 troops,” he said.

Hudson’s father served in World War II and had told his son he would learn more from the experience than anything else.

“He was right,” Hudson said.

After returning home, Hudson began working with his parents at their hardware store, located where The Mercantile is today. He was encouraged to run for town council, which he did, and later ran for and was elected mayor. All in all, he served in town government for 16 years, leaving after he was offered the job with the Justice of the Peace Court. 

“You couldn’t do both. You can’t be political, even though back then Milton wasn’t very political,” Hudson said.

He said the biggest changes he’s seen over the years have been technological. When he started, everything had to be written out.

“When someone came in to be arraigned, they had a printed form where you had to write in the person’s name and what they were charged with and what the penalties were,” Hudson said. “Of course, now everything spits out of a computer.”

He said much of the court’s work has become based through video to the point where magistrates can hear police officers swear out a warrant right over a video call. During the pandemic, while most court buildings were closed, Hudson said the business of the court never stopped.

“For almost a year, I sat here and did everything from home,” he said. “Delaware is one of the few states that are interconnected like that. We’re lucky to be so far ahead.”

Hudson said the most rewarding part of the job is trying to help someone. As the son of parents who owned a hardware store, he disliked shoplifting cases, and the toughest cases were usually those that involved some form of child abuse. He said he always tried to treat defendants as if he himself was on the other side.

“Jail was my last response. Luckily, there’s a lot of people we can help, and we can send them places that will help them,” Hudson said. 

Once he leaves the bench for good later this year, Hudson said he didn’t really have any plans.

“You know, if I sit on my front porch and watch TV, that’s fine for me. I’m 79 years old. We might travel a little bit, but I’m content to sit home for a little while,” he said.