How is the role of law represented, as a whole, in To Kill a Mockingbird, and through Scout, Atticus and Jem?

To Kill a Mockingbirdis, in part, a
discussion of the judicial system in the South during the 1930s.  The character who most
exemplifies the law is Atticus, of course.  He's a creator of laws (he's a state
representative) as well as a defender of laws.  He understands justice and upholds the
law faithfully, even to the point of being willing to turn his son into the authorities
for the murder of Bob Ewell (knowing he'll be acquitted, of course).  His one faltering
in this position comes at the very end, with Boo Radley.  In general terms, though,
Atticus sees the law as something that will work and should be obeyed and upheld.
Atticus represents those who believe in the law, no matter
what.

Jem, on the other hand, has very little experience
with the law.  He is, after all, not even a teenager yet, and he neither cares for nor
needs to worry about the law.  It doesn't affect him until that fateful summer of the
trial.  Jem sees the law as just, but the upholding of the law as flawed.  He sees the
injustice of the trial and asks "How could they do that?" His innocent belief in the
purity of the law has been tainted, and his faith in the law to uphold justice is gone.
He represents those disillusioned with the law.

Scout is
relatively unconcerned with the law in any form.  She doesn't really understand (or
care) about her father's lawmaking, and during the trial she is not fully aware of the
intricacies of the whole ordeal.  She is comfortable enough in a courtroom, as she and
Jem have grown up watching Atticus do his "lawyering."  Her one clear moment of
awareness comes at the very end of the novel when she understands that upholding the law
byreporting Boo's actions against Bob Ewell would be like killing a mockingbird.  Scout
represents those to whom the law is something extraneous and not particularly applicable
to their lives.