I think (but cannot prove or cite) that it goes beyond square-cube effects, and is a higher power function. A taller person has farther to fall, and is accelerating all that way. The energy is proportional to the square of the velocity…
(In the same way, the amount of energy in a fist-blow goes up, according to one calculation I’ve seen, by the fifth power. A “mini-me” one half of my size in all linear dimensions can only do 1/32 the harm with a straight jab. The fist weighs less, the cross-sections of all the muscles is less, and the distance the jab travels is less, all helping diminish the effect.)
Having gained and dropped, and gained and dropped substantial amounts of weight over my lifetime I can tell you with absolutely certainty that if you are tall you can more easily injure yourself in falling, and if you are tall and heavy the risk becomes even greater.
Obese people in their 40’s and older who have experience being obese tend to be physically cautious in their movements and especially in climbing stairs, ladders or dealing with precarious perches. Trip and fall injuries are not insignificant hazards for heavy people.
The only saving grace is that most older obese people tend to have fairly good bone density compared to more gracile people, but things will still break with enough force.
So yes you can injure yourself more easily,and more seriously if you are fat. Especially if you are older.
But wait. Injuries are caused by uneven energy dissipation through the body. Could it be that a fat person’s build while gaining more potential energy, could dissipate that energy around sensitive structures (ie more jiggling)?
It isn’t just square-cube law, as the further you have to fall adds an additional height multiplier to the energy. The day to day evidence is watching young children, especially play, or even learn to walk. They barely notice a fall that would minimally wind, and probably injure an adult.
I concur with the idea that the judge was deliberately attempting some humour by quoting the popular maxim.
The first place I heard the phrase was in relation to prize fighting, not to fall from power. Dating from about 1900 and attributed to Joe Walcott, there is a very real claim that this was the source of the phrase, and that it was only later that it changed to have the current meaning. It does at least have provenance.
