[en] A measurement of the residues from the ¹²C + ⁷Li reaction has been obtained for ⁷Li energies from 10 to 38 MeV. From these measurements the fusion cross sections and critical angular momenta for the ¹²C + ⁷Li system have been deduced. Cross sections for the ⁷Li(¹²C,t)¹⁶O reaction have been obtained for ¹²C energies from 54 to 62 MeV at THETAsub(l)sub(a)sub(b) = 2.7sup(o). The critical angular momenta obtained from the fusion cross sections have been used to perform Hauser-Feshbach calculations for the ¹²C(⁷Li,t)¹⁶O reaction. These calculations have been compared to measured angular distributions over a wide energy range. By comparing the fusion cross sections required by the Hauser-Feshbach calculations to fit the ¹²C(⁷Li,t)¹⁶O(8.87 MeV) reaction and the measured residue cross section it is estimated that at least 80% of the measured residues are fusion products. The calculations also indicate that direct processes dominate the population of many ¹⁶O levels at forward angles and the 10.35 MeV state at backward angles. The necessity for using a critical angular momentum in Hauser-Feshbach calculation is discussed. (orig.)