In Southern Railway Co. v. Hall, 267 Ala. 143, 147, 100 So. 2d 722, 725 (1957) the Court held that the trial court erred in granting the petitioner a right-of-way because the petitioner already had an existing means of access to his lands--the "clay pit crossing." In that case, the petitioner had sought a right-of-way over the lands of the defendant railroad company, a right-of-way that would have been more convenient than the clay pit crossing. This Court, construing 18-3-1 (then codified at Title 19, 56, Code of Ala. 1940), stated: "The obvious purpose of the statute is to provide a means whereby a landowner, enclosed on all sides by lands of others and unable to get to his land from a public road or highway, can get relief by condemning a right of way to it across intervening land. However, if such landowner already has a reasonably adequate way to and from his land, there is no field of operation for the statute. On the other hand, if there is no reasonably adequate means of access he may acquire, as provided in the statute, 'a convenient right of way not exceeding in width fifteen feet over the lands intervening and lying between such tract or body of land and the public road nearest or most convenient thereto.' But the fact that a presently existing means of access is not as desirable to the landowner as another route would be is not the test. If an existing access is reasonably adequate for the purpose of giving the landowner an outlet to a public road or highway, there is no basis under the statute for condemning another outlet across the intervening land. One owner of a tract of land may consider an access road best for his purposes and a later owner of the same land, for his purposes, might consider another route more desirable and convenient. Thus, it can be seen that if the convenience of the owner were the test, the land of an intervening owner might well be burdened with several rights of way across it, the number varying in proportion to the different uses to which the several successive owners might put the land. We do not think the purpose of the statute was to do more than to assure that land which is not adjacent or contiguous to a public road or highway can be reached from such a road or highway. In other words, the burden is on the petitioner for a right of way to show that he has no reasonably adequate outlet. We do not think the evidence shows that appellee's use of the 'clay pit' crossing is attended with any difficulty except that it connects with his land near its southern portion and not near its center where he proposes to erect his home. No doubt it would be a convenience for appellee to have an outlet nearer the location of his proposed home. But we do not think the statute authorizes the taking of lands of another as a mere matter of convenience. In this connection, we quote the following from State ex rel. Carlson v. Superior Court, 107 Wash. 228, [232,] 181 P. 689, 691: "'So it may be said that, notwithstanding a statute gives a landlocked owner the right to condemn a way of necessity over the lands of a stranger, it is not a favored statute, and the taking will not be tolerated unless the necessity is paramount in the sense that there is no other way out or that the cost is prohibitive, for it must be borne in mind that, after all, this is a condemnation proceeding. We are taking the property of one man and giving it to another.'" (267 Ala. at 146-47, 100 So. 2d at 724-25.)