diff --git a/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py b/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
index 22546c27de..23be549224 100644
--- a/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
+++ b/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
@@ -890,6 +890,9 @@ class EmailField(CharField):
     description = _("E-mail address")
 
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        # max_length should be overridden to 254 characters to be fully 
+        # compliant with RFCs 3696 and 5321
+
         kwargs['max_length'] = kwargs.get('max_length', 75)
         CharField.__init__(self, *args, **kwargs)
 
diff --git a/docs/ref/models/fields.txt b/docs/ref/models/fields.txt
index 36bf60e9ac..8c6a2c9d35 100644
--- a/docs/ref/models/fields.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/models/fields.txt
@@ -481,6 +481,15 @@ The admin represents this as an ``<input type="text">`` (a single-line input).
 
 A :class:`CharField` that checks that the value is a valid email address.
 
+.. admonition:: Incompliance to RFCs
+
+    The default 75 character ``max_length`` is not capable of storing all
+    possible RFC3696/5321-compliant email addresses. In order to store all 
+    possible valid email addresses, a ``max_length`` of 254 is required. 
+    The default ``max_length`` of 75 exists for historical reasons. The 
+    default has not been changed in order to maintain backwards 
+    compatibility with existing uses of :class:`EmailField`.
+
 ``FileField``
 -------------