This chapter presents the normative background of English compound spelling. It discusses underlying concepts such as standardisation, norms and mistakes and explores possible reasons for the observation that language users seem to feel the strong wish to comply with spelling standards – ranging from the requirements of successful communication to considerations regarding power, tradition, status, face, identity, character and economic value. The chapter also discusses the roles of official institutions, the government, the publishing business, linguistic experts and language users as originators of what is perceived as “correct” spelling by the community of users. Only norms which take usage into account will tend to be accepted by the speech community, and codified orthographic norms of English are only binding for particular institutions. English compound spelling is thus not fixed by institutionally sanctioned prescriptive norms, but rather emerges from linguistic use by the community of speakers. Norming involves the mutual influence between language users, who consult dictionaries and write texts, and lexicographers, who read texts and write dictionaries.