The North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association, and the persons composing it, shall continue to be a body politic and corporate under the name and style of the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Association, and by that name have the right to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded, to purchase and hold real estate and grant the same, to have and to use a common seal, and to do any other things and perform any other acts as appertain to bodies corporate and politic not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the State. (1881, c. 355, s. 1; Code, s. 3135; Rev., s. 4471; C.S., s. 6650; 1981 (Reg. Sess., 1982), c. 1188, s. 1.)