Without A or B means?

DINOSAUR

Hi I was reviewing PT65.4.5. There is a sentence that says "The plaintiff has applied to the court for an order permitting her to question each defendant without their codefendants or their codefendants' legal counsel being present."

Let's say codefendants stands for A. Codefendants' legal counsel being present stands for B. The sentences says the order permits her to question each defendant without A OR B. I'm wondering whether I should treat the it as without (A or B ), or (without A or without B ). The former should mean [no A and no B], the latter should mean [no A or no B]. How do I decide how to interpret the sentence?

And what about without A AND B?

I came up with an example myself. I can live without video games OR sugar. I would naturally think it means if I don't have video games AND sugar, I am still fine. But if the sentence says "I can live without video games AND sugar", it seems to mean the same thing. So what's the difference?

Additionally, "if I don't have video games and sugar" also seems to mean the same thing as "if I don't have video games or sugar" in English, right? Even if logically the latter has three possibilities -- no video games only, no sugar only, no video games and no sugar, when you say the latter, you actually mean no video games and no sugar, right?

studyingandrestudying

OR seems to mean AND in this sentence. Not A and Not B.

DINOSAUR

Hi @lsatplaylist ! Can you explain how you determine whether OR means OR or AND ? It's confusing to me. Thanks!