So here is the scenario:
We live in a post-state world, all court and police functions have been outsourced to various private contractors. Two men are sitting in a bar, Bob and Jim.
Bob is trying to hire Jim to go kill your child. Bob is evidently completely serious and talks for hours of how much he hates your child, talks about the hours of planning that has gone into this, even provides a weapon and money to Jim as a downpayment.
Later, Jim feels uneasy about this and contacts you, telling you the full story. Can you bring charges against Bob?
Bob is trying to hire Jim to go kill your child
Conspiracy to commit murder
This will help you understand how such a scenario can be (easily) dealt with:
I don't think the scenario you've described would even be illegal under current law. The closest thing would be verbal assault but it doesn't meet the criterion to be verbal assault (imminent, believable threat). In my view, the threat must have some component of endangerment to it in order to be legally actionable. In other words, if you're standing directly in front of my face threatening to beat me up, I am endangered by the facts that you're angry, you're making threats and you're in my immediate proximity. If you're driving a car and you careen past me at an ungodly speed as I walk along the sidewalk, you are endangering me by leaving too little room for error even if you didn't actually hit me this time. I think that such behavior should be treated in the same category as verbal assault, it's a kind of threat to the person or property of the individual that creates real risk and, therefore, is imposing costs onto the party which they did not freely agree to exchange for something else. In other words, if I agree to be paid $1000 to walk along the sidewalk while you careen past me in a car at an ungodly speed, that is not endangerment because I have agree to take on the risk of injury and death in return for some compensation for taking on that risk. By not paying me to take that risk and imposing it upon me anyway, it is the same as if you had stolen $1000 from me (assuming that's the going price for that kind of stunt work).
Clayton -
In the current system, no.. not until you date it anyway.
In a "free" market.... probably not. But you could probably hire a PDA to enforce a kind of restraining order, maybe.
In States a fresh law is looked upon as a remedy for evil. Instead of themselves altering what is bad, people begin by demanding a law to alter it. ... In short, a law everywhere and for everything!
~Peter Kropotkin