There was a discussion about this last year, and I'm sure it comes up
regularly, but I'd like to get some feedback from pilots with both
legal and practical experience regarding one's rights (if any) upon
making an emergency landing on private property in the USA.

My aroused curiosity stems from this quote from an FAA contact
regarding private airports on FAA sectionals: "Please note that private
use airports in the FAA's National Airspace System are for the use of
the owner only or with the permission of the owner only. Other users
are not authorized and should not be attempting to land at private use
airports." This made me wonder why the FAA even puts them on their
charts at all, and why they often remain there long after the "airport"
has turned into a landfill or housing development. But I digress ...

If I make an emergency landing on private property (regardless of
whether it's an airport), does the owner have the legal right to detain
me? I seem to recall in a previous discussion a reference to something
like a "safe harbor" law that permits persons, such as lost hikers, to
take refuge in private property in order to escape danger (bad weather,
etc), and that this law has been applied to aviators who had to put
down somewhere. If this is true, I'd like to learn the details, should
I ever end up in such a predicament...

TW