Imam Malik said,
“It was not a part of people’s fatwas to say ‘This is halal and this is haram’, but they used to say, ‘I disapprove of this and would not do it myself,’ and people used to be content with that.” In another place, “They didn’t use to say ‘halal’ nor ‘haram’ except about that which was [stated to be so] in the Book of Allah ta’ala.”
[From Hajj Abdassamad Clarke’s translation of Kitab al-Jami’ of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani, entitled “A Madinan View: on the Sunnah, courtesy, battles and history”]