The societies referred to in Code Section 14-5-49 shall be bodies politic and corporate for the purposes of receiving in their distinct and proper names by their trustees or officers all property, both personal and real, by purchase, gift, or bequest. They may plead, be impleaded, contract, and be contracted with. When any such society shall have entered the names of its trustees or officers and shall have recorded its name, style, and objects as required by law, it may defend and be defended and shall then be entitled to all the benefits of Code Sections 14-5-46 through 14-5-48.