Section 17. Claims to property distrained and sold.

Where any person, not being a defaulter or responsible for a defaulter, may claim a right to the property distrained, and the distrainer may, notwithstanding, cause the same to be sold, such claimant, on proof of such right in any Civil Court of competent jurisdiction, and in the event of the distrainer being unable to prove the responsibility for the arrear of revenue, on account of which the property may have been sold, shall recover from the distrainer the full value of such property, with interest, costs, and damages, according to the circumstances of the case. But claims to crops upon the ground or to gathered products of the ground attached, in the possession of the defaulter, whether founded upon a previous sale, mortgage, or otherwise, shall not bar the prior claim of revenue due from the ground upon which such crop or product may have been grown.