Cape Ann Granite Co. v. United States

How later courts describe this case

• leaving unlocked car unattended, in contravention of statute, constituted negligence per se and subjected car owner to liability for injuries caused by person who stole car
• violation of safety statute requiring automobile ignitions to be securely locked characterized as “proximate cause” of appellant’s decedent’s death when unknown person drove appellee’s truck away and ran over decedent
• truck owner who left keys in ignition in violation of traffic ordinance held liable for damage negligently caused by third party who had stolen the vehicle; “[t]he fact that the intermeddler’s conduct was itself a proximate cause of the harm, and was probably criminal, [was] immaterial”