The phrase "act could not have" is not correct in English as it lacks a subject and context.
It can be used in a complete sentence where "act" is the subject and is discussing a hypothetical situation in the past.
Example: "The act could not have been completed without the necessary resources."
Alternatives: "action could not have" or "deed could not have".
For the Dodgers, the opening act could not have been much more impressive.
The Framers of the First Judiciary Act could not have anticipated what ATS litigation would become, and they left us very few useful clues to answer, for example, whether aiders-and-abettors of human rights violations should be liable.
Those who carried out the act could not have been more helpful to the former regime in Tunisia, which seeks to cover up abuses committed while it was propped up and tolerated by European and U.S. allies.
[Turning to the witness.] It is alleged by the Prosecution that these acts could not have been deeds of individuals, but that the logical application of the Party Program regarding the Jewish ques-tion had to lead to these crimes at Auschwitz.
The "cunning and deliberation" displayed in the acts could not have been done by a deluded person.
On January 14 , 1875 Grant signed the Resumption of Specie Act, and he could not have been happier; he wrote a note to Congress congratulating members on the passage of the act.
"Don't act like you could not have".
The sociologist Denis Muzet said the act of philanthropy could not have come at a better time for France.
For the family of a woman burned to death inside an elevator in Brooklyn, the apparent act of generosity could not have come at a better time.
The contrast to Bush, who a year earlier had called illegal immigration "an act of love", could not have been clearer.
"I guess on the one hand, if they had been subject to the Investment Company Act, they probably could not have done these transactions," he said.
