Since its introduction in 1973, the Davisson Offset Limit has been widely used in the United States for interpretation of axial compressive load tests on pile foundations and is one of three methods explicitly accepted by the 2006 International Building Code. An examination of the fundamental assumptions of the DOL shows that its application to cast-in-place piles lacks scientific basis and leads to over conservatism. Interestingly, these are the same reasons given by Davisson for its development.