Does s 8 of the Conveyancing Act, 1892, apply to all leases containing a covenant against assignment?

In West v. Gwynne, [1911] 2 Ch. D. 1, the question was to decide whether s. 8 of the Conveyancing Act, 1892, was of general application or whether its operation was confined to leases made after the commencement of the Act. The statute provided that "in all leases" containing a covenant against the signing or underletting without licence or consent, the covenant should be deemed to be subject to a proviso to the effect that no fine was payable for such licence or consent. The statute was found to apply to all leases coming within the description whether made before or after the enactment and was thus not retrospective. The phrase, the fact situation "leases containing a covenant against assignment" was a description by characteristic.